Commuters heading to the airport or the southern and eastern parts of the capital would be cruising to their destination a fortnight on with the completion of the western arm of Karbighaiya-Buddha Marg flyover.

The new arm of the flyover would be ready by the second week of August. It would be thrown open for public use thereafter.

Commuters had been facing a difficult time after the construction of the flyover’s new arm began in November, forcing closure of the General Post Office-R-Block stretch on Hardinge Road. They have been taking a circuitous route through Buddha Marg, Income Tax roundabout and R-Block roundabout to reach the western part of the capital and vice-versa. Soon, all that would be a matter of the past. People from the eastern or southern parts of the capital take around 45 minutes on an average to reach the airport at present. After the new arm of the flyover is thrown open, the journey time would be reduced to 25 minutes.

The increased vehicular pressure near the Income Tax roundabout made weekdays a nightmare for commuters. Rajesh Chandra, a car owner, said: “The traffic congestion is such that at times I take more than half-an-hour to travel the 2km distance between Patna High Court and Dak Bungalow roundabout through Income Tax roundabout.”

The state government seems to be keeping tabs on the project, with the road construction department turning its focus on widening roads near the new arm of the flyover to ensure smooth movement of traffic. It has decided to widen the 1.1-km-long Serpentine (Daroga Prasad Rai) Road, connecting Beer Chand Patel Path near R-Block roundabout on the south with Bailey Road at Hartali Mor on the north, into a four-lane road.

“We are soon going to float tenders for widening this road from existing two lanes to four lanes,” road construction department secretary Pratyaya Amrit told The Telegraph. The work would be carried out at an estimated cost of Rs 7.8 crore.

The work over, those coming from the Kankerbagh side of the capital would not have to touch the busy Dak Bungalow roundabout and Income Tax roundabout. After descending the western slope of the flyover, vehicles can take the Serpentine Road and reach Hartali Mor, from where they can go westward through Bailey Road. Commuters coming from the western side of the capital can use the same route to go towards the southern and eastern parts of the capital, including Kankerbagh.

“We had planned to complete the construction by end-March. But location constraints and additional work to ensure the bridge’s strength delayed work,” said a senior official of Ircon, the executing agency of the Rs 183-crore joint project of the Indian Railways and the state government.

He added: “The construction is over. We now have some work related to road surfacing, which would not take more than 10 days.”

Regarding opening the new arm of the flyover to the public, the Ircon official said: “Once we complete the road-related work on the flyover, we would apprise the state government so that it can choose a suitable date for formally opening the new part of the flyover.”