Bhubaneswar, Aug. 5: The National Highways Authority of India was supposed to complete the flyover at Rasulgarh Square by Nabakalebar, but the work is still in progress, adding to commuters' woes.
Officials of the highways authority attributed the delay to relocation of electric poles and encroachment.
"Besides the traffic on the stretch is so busy that we get only a few hours at night to get the job done. However, we are hopeful that the construction will be over by the end of this month," said an official.
The Rs 50-crore worth project started in December 2011.
With the construction of the proposed 1.5-km-long flyover with 20 pillars progressing slowly, traffic in the area has gone haywire.
"It has been four years since the construction of the flyover started, but the inordinate delay has been the main reason behind traffic chaos in the area. The situation is worse during the evening hours when a large number of commuters wait for buses along the road," said local resident Sriram Nanda.
In May, police had decided to divert traffic at Rasulgarh Square for an indefinite period to expedite the construction. According to the notification, all the vehicles going towards Cuttack are being diverted from Rasulgarh Square towards Mancheswar Industrial Estate.
From Mancheswar, the vehicles are moving towards the Palasuni canal road and then join the National Highway No. 5 at Palasuni Square.
The police said the diversion forced the motorists to cover an additional distance of 500 metres.
However, the cops have not imposed any restriction on vehicles coming from the Cuttack side.
Though construction of four other flyovers on the national highway at Vani Vihar Square, Acharya Vihar Square, CRPF Square and Fire Station Square also began at the same time, the Rasulgarh bridge remains incomplete. "All other four flyovers were also built at important traffic intersections. If the construction of those flyovers could get over, there is no reason for delay in case of the Rasulgarh flyover," said Manoj Sahani, a commuter.
Assistant commissioner of police (traffic) Jatindra Panda said 15 traffic personnel had been engaged to manage traffic at Rasulgarh Square.
"We have asked the construction agent to provide adequate traffic marshals to assist us," said Das.
