To provide relief to thousands of daily commuters, the Noida Authority will construct a zero-shaped skywalk at the Model roundabout in Sector-62 on NH-9, eliminating the need for pedestrians to navigate through high-speed traffic while entering or exiting the city. The demarcation for the project was carried out on Wednesday in the presence of officials from the Noida Traffic Cell (NTC) and the construction agency.
According to officials, the skywalk will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 40 crore. The project is expected to benefit nearly 8 lakh commuters who travel daily to Noida from Delhi, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Hapur, and Bulandshahr.
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The design and drawings for the project were prepared earlier and sent to IIT Delhi for technical and budget approval, which was granted in July. Following this, the Noida Authority floated a tender and selected ST Construction to execute the project. After the site inspection, officials have now instructed the company to begin work.
The proposed skywalk will be 530 metres long and 4 metres wide. To ensure ease of movement, two escalators will be installed on the Noida-facing corners, while two lifts will be provided on the National Highway side. The circular skywalk will be connected to the existing foot-over-bridge on NH-9 beyond the roundabout, allowing seamless pedestrian movement between Noida and Ghaziabad.
Officials said the decision to construct the skywalk was taken after a survey conducted by the Regional Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies, Lucknow, to make the area traffic-jam-free. Unlike the earlier plan for a straight foot-over-bridge, the circular design was found to be more practical for pedestrian movement from all directions.
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The skywalk will also feature a metal sheet covering to protect pedestrians from the sun and rain, and will be supported by pillars from below.
“A zero-shaped skywalk will be constructed around the Model Town roundabout to make Sector-62 traffic-free. After finalising the design and budget, the tender was issued, and work has now been allotted. Demarcation has been completed,” said SP Singh, General Manager (Civil-NTC), Noida Authority.