Patna: Come October, the time taken to travel from AIIMS Patna to the Sonepur-Digha bridge will be cut down from the present 45 minutes to 20 minutes when the 12km elevated/semi-elevated road between the two points will finally become functional.
The road will not just reduce the time and distance between AIIMS-Patna and Digha. Vehicles from north Bihar will be able to zip directly to the southern part of the state capital.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar had inaugurated the Rs 717.4 crore elevated road project on November 2, 2013. It was supposed to be completed by September last year, but Bihar's usual problem of land acquisition delayed it, as did hiccups with the railways.
"We are committed to complete the project in the next six months and the flyover would become functional by October," road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav told The Telegraph on Wednesday. "There was some issue with the railways but it has been resolved."
A road construction department senior engineer said that the problem with the railways was related to the design of a foot over-bridge at Khagaul.
"The railway has its fixed design that is implemented across the country. However, in this project, the design was different which needed the approval of the railways. Finally, the issues have been resolved and work is in the final stage. The work may, however, be delayed for some time during the rainy season," the engineer said.
The railways hurdle was crossed after Nand Kishore met railway minister Piyush Goel in January this year, sources said.
The elevated road is the second biggest project of the road construction department after the Ganga driveway in Patna.
The Bihar State Road Development Corporation (BSRDC), a wing of the road construction department, has awarded the elevated road work to Gammon India Ltd.
The project is being constructed on engineering procurement construction (EPC) mode.
Under the EPC mode, the government provides the funds and the agency is paid as per the work it does.
From the AIIMS side, the first 3km of the road will have two lanes on a semi-elevated structure. It would culminate at the Bailey Road flyover located between Jagdeo Path and Saguna Mor. The remaining portion of the road will be four-lane, and elevated.
