The road construction department (RCD) on Friday shared a plan to realise chief minister Nitish Kumar's dream of reaching Patna from any district in the state within five hours.
Road construction department principal secretary Amrit Lal Meena said the department has chalked out a plan and also identified what slows down the journey to Patna. "We've reviewed why it takes time to reach Patna from other district headquarters," Meena said. "The main reason is traffic congestion within 100km radius of Patna. Efforts are on to make drives on this 100km radius smooth through 2-laning or 4-laning as required."
Accompanied by senior officials, like Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam Ltd managing director Ranjan Kumar and RCD engineer-in-chief Laxmi Narayan Das, Meena said that opening of JP Setu, the road section of the Digha-Sonepur rail-cum-road bridge, is part of the plan to realise faster roads.
In pursuit of the five-hour dream, Meena said that in 2016-17, a 632-km stretch initially not meant to be two-laned would now be two-laned and given paved shoulders.
He also said that the 12km-long elevated/semi-elevated road from AIIMS-Patna to the Sonepur-Digha road-cum-rain bridge would be functional by September. It would give motorists travelling from north to south regularly a snarl-free drive. The department's third biggest project after the Kachchi-Dargah-Bidupur six-lane bridge and the Ganga driveway in Patna, will come up on the western side of Patna and connect with the Sonepur-Digha rail-cum-road bridge.
The first 3km-stretch from the AIIMS-Patna side would have two lanes on a semi-elevated structure. It would culminate at Bailey Road flyover between Jagdeo Path and Saguna Mor.
This elevated and semi-elevated road would not only reduce the distance from Digha locality to AIIMS-Patna, but also bring speed. Even those coming from outside Patna would benefit. Vehicles from north Bihar could use this bridge for direct connectivity with southern parts of the city.
Meena also said that Mithapur flyover would get linked to Chiraiyatand road overbridge and functional within two months. The 854m-long flyover, being constructed at a cost of Rs 95.85 crore, will join the eastern flank of the Chiraiyatand road overbridge throughMithapur bridge. Once opened, residents will not face traffic jams on Station Road.
He said work on the 21.5km Ganga Driveway took off once land acquisition problems were ironed out. Work on the 8.4km-long stretch in the first phase, from Digha to Krishna Ghat, would end by June 2018. Similarly, work on the 1.7km Lohia Path Chakra-to-Bailey Road multi-junction interchange project would get over by December. "As roads have become smooth, people are speeding," Meena said. "The chief minister has given us special instructions on safety. We've identified 100 accident-prone spots and are working to ensure there are no accident-prone roads left in the 3 months."
