A 1.5km-long flyover that is coming up near Balaka Abasan in New Town’s Action Area I will create an alternative route to New Town from Salt Lake and Sector V.
The four-lane flyover is being constructed across the Kestopur canal (Salt Lake) and will connect New Town with the Ring Road behind Sector V. The Ring Road circles the water bodies in front of Godrej Waterside.
At present, only the Major Arterial Road connects New Town with Salt Lake.
The flyover is being built by Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco), which builds infrastructure in New Town. It will have four lanes with a divider in the middle.
The flyover will connect New Town with the Ring Road. A four-lane road has been constructed to connect the Ring Road with the approach to the flyover.
Motorists headed to New Town from Sector V have to take a right turn at the Technopolis signal and drive straight for around 400m.
Then they have to take a left turn to access the Ring Road and head straight for around 800m before taking another left turn, which will lead them to the flyover.
Those headed towards Salt Lake from New Town will have to reach Balaka Abasan, from where they will be able to access the flyover and then get on to the Ring Road.
Debashis Sen, managing director of Hidco, said the alternative route was chalked out as the traffic load on the Major Arterial Road was increasing by the day.
“This new route will give an alternative option for motorists to enter and leave New Town and will help decongest the Major Arterial Road to a large extent,” said Sen.
According to another Hidco official, the flyover is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Many residents of New Town said that the Major Arterial Road become clogged with bumper to bumper traffic during rush hours.
Samaresh Das of the New Town Forum and News, a residents’ body, said they were happy that a new route had been planned.
“There is a lot of pressure on the MAR, especially during rush hours. Once the flyover is completed, the travel time to Sector V and Salt Lake will reduce to a great extent,” said Das.