KOLKATA: RVNL has completed the basic work for the Orange line‘s underground tunnels along the median of VIP Road, covering 72m. With the construction ready to enter a crucial phase—curving toward the airport—the implementing agency has sought a rejig of the existing traffic block, having built another new stretch of road space for the seamless movement of Kolkata-bound traffic.
A five-day traffic trial is likely next week, before Bidhannagar traffic cops hand over the site for the next phase of the metro work.
Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), which is implementing the New Garia-Airport (Orange) line, split the construction of the last leg into three phases so there is no traffic disruption on the crucial lifeline (VIP Road) that connects the city with the airport.
In its last leg, the mostly elevated 29m Metro corridor ducks underground; contractors Afcons have been tasked to build a 300m ramp and 500m of twin tunnels in the cut-and-cover method.
In April this year, work for the first phase, consisting of the diaphragm wall, or D-wall (as the underground boundary is called), and the top slab, started around 700m from the airport.
RVNL cordoned off around 80m x 12m of the middle of VIP Road after creating a 100m x 12m road space on the Kolkata-bound flank on AAI land.
With the first phase completed, RVNL applied to the Bidhannagar traffic department for a rejigging of the traffic block so that the base of the underground tunnel can bend eastwards. Before seeking a fresh traffic block, which will include a small part of the Kolkata-bound flank and also a portion of the road built by RVNL for Phase I of the construction, the agency once again created a compensatory road space (70m x 12m) on the AAI land.
Senior officials of the Bidhannagar traffic department and the state PWD, custodian of VIP Road, recently inspected the new road and the site around it.
The traffic trials are being planned to guide vehicles toward the mandatory left turn along a 20m wide stretch. After a few metres, the road width shrinks to 12m because the road space created earlier will also be included in the barricading. “We want to check if there is a bottleneck at this point and how the traffic behaves in the changed situation,” a senior state official said. The road widens as it approaches Kaikhali—to meet the original Kolkata-bound VIP Road flank.
RVNL will also start digging piles for the ongoing ramp construction, beyond pier 846, where the viaduct should end. For this, the barricading is being extended towards Kaikhali, and the traffic signal post shifted by a few metres towards the airport for vehicles to U-turn.
