Noida elevated road shut after second pothole in a week, leads to huge traffic jam

The Noida Authority has decided to conduct another round of repairs after a pothole appeared at the same spot for the second time within a week. IIT Roorkee and Bridge Corporation engineers will also examine the road.Noida: Commuters using Noida's elevated road may face traffic disruptions for the next week after a lane connecting Sector 62 to Sector 18 was closed for repair work near the ISKCON temple in Sector 33. The closure follows the reappearance of a pothole at the same location within days of an earlier repair.Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Syed Ali Abbas said traffic on the affected stretch would remain closed for a week to facilitate repair work. Barricades have been installed at the site, and vehicles have been prohibited from using the affected lane.Traffic moving from Sector 18 towards Sector 62, however, continues to operate normally. The Noida Authority decided to undertake fresh repairs after the road surface developed another pothole within a week, raising concerns about the condition of the elevated stretch.POTHOLE REAPPEARS DAYS AFTER REPAIRSThe elevated road, which stretches approximately 4.8 km from Sector 27 to Sector 60, developed a depression in its surface on Sunday. Traffic was restored after repair work was carried out, but a pothole appeared at the same spot again on Tuesday.Steel reinforcement bars beneath the road surface were visible through the pothole, raising questions about the durability of the previous repair work and the condition of the underlying structure.The recurrence of the damage has prompted the Noida Authority to order another round of repairs. The affected lane has been closed to ensure that the work can be carried out without vehicles passing through the stretch.IIT ROORKEE, BRIDGE CORPORATION TO EXAMINE ROADThe Noida Authority has also decided to seek a technical assessment by engineers from IIT Roorkee and the Bridge Corporation to determine why the road surface has repeatedly given way.The proposed inspection will examine not only the upper layer of the road but also the concrete and steel structure beneath it. The findings are expected to help establish the cause of the recurring damage and identify whether repairs beyond the road surface are required.The technical assessment is significant because the pothole reappeared shortly after the earlier repair, indicating that the underlying cause may need to be investigated before a lasting solution can be implemented.The duration and scope of any additional work will depend on the findings of the inspection.COMMUTERS MAY FACE TRAFFIC DISRUPTIONSThe elevated road is an important route for commuters travelling from Delhi through Noida towards Ghaziabad, the 7X residential societies and Greater Noida West. The closure of the Sector 62-to-Sector 18 lane is therefore likely to affect traffic movement in the area during the repair period.Motorists travelling towards Sector 18 have been advised to plan their journeys accordingly and account for possible delays. The opposite lane, carrying traffic from Sector 18 towards Sector 62, remains open.Built at a cost of approximately Rs 480 crore, the elevated road was opened to the public in 2017. The latest damage has brought renewed attention to the condition of the infrastructure and the need to establish why the same stretch developed a pothole twice within a short period.- EndsWith inputs from Bhupendra Chaudhary