Bhubaneswar, Nov. 6: A four-lane flyover is set to come to the rescue of one of the busiest and most dangerous intersections in the city - Khandagiri Square.

Work on the flyover, which will start 200 metres before Khandagiri Square and end at Aiginia on the outskirts of the city, is due to start in December.

Khandagiri Square is one of the busiest intersections in the city that has to handle heavy flow of vehicles, inter-state trucks and buses, from Baramunda, Khandagiri caves, Jagamara and Khurda.

Accidents, both major and minor, are common at the spot that sees heavy traffic jams during peak hours - 10am to 1pm and 5pm to 8pm.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to construct the flyover over the square on NH-5 (also known as Khandagiri Road) to resolve the problem.

"We will forward our plan to the headquarters soon and once the tender process is completed, work on the flyover will start," said NHAI chief general manager (technical) Dharmananda Sarangi.

The plan envisages building a flyover with a width of 4.5 to 5 metres at an approximate cost of Rs 10-15 crore. The flyover will span a length of around 1 to 1.5 kilometre.

The intersection has been identified as one of the "black spots" in the city from the point of view of road safety. Earlier, a survey by the Regional Transport Office-I Bhubaneswar had concluded that the square had turned into a death trap because of the absence of road signage and barricades between the national highway and the service road as well as encroachment on the stretch. The survey also revealed that the road from Baramunda to Khandagiri Square is on a down gradient (slope), as a result of which the speed of vehicles increases, raising the chance of accidents.

A traffic policeman posted at the intersection said that on an average around one-lakh vehicles pass through the square everyday. The flow of vehicles is the same from all four directions, which includes Khandagiri, Baramunda, Khurda and Jagamara.

Bhubaneswar deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi said that once the flyover was completed, the burden on traffic policemen posted at the stretch would become lighter.

He said managing traffic at the intersection had always been a challenge for the police. As many as seven to eight cops, including traffic and home guards, the highest at any junction in the city, are posted at the square on a daily basis to handle the traffic flow.

Traffic congestion at Khandagiri Square had been discussed at the 75th Indian Roads Congress held here in January last year.

The flyover will be built under the "build, operate and transfer" policy of the NHAI, said the highways authority official Sarangi. He added that the NHAI would shortly engage a private contractor for construction of the flyover.

Sarangi said that in view of heavy flow of vehicles on the stretch, it had been decided to provide additional slip roads at the start and end points of the flyover.

A 'slip road' is a road entering or leaving a motorway or dual carriageway. He said this has been planned to ensure smooth flow of vehicles.

Sarthak Mohanty, 26, software professional and resident of Aiginia, said the construction of the flyover would help ease traffic congestion at the spot.

He added that motorists face problems at the intersection because of the movement of heavy vehicles such as trucks on the stretch.