Noida: Pocked with potholes and rough stretches, the 11.5-km Yamuna Pushta Road from Kalindi Kunj to Sector 135 is set for a Rs 30-crore revamp, even as Noida Authority is drawing up an estimate to upgrade the remaining 15 km stretch up to Sector 150. The four-lane road serves as a key backup to the Noida Expressway, which remains heavily congested during peak hours. With irrigation department approvals in place, the Noida Authority is likely to begin resurfacing damaged sections in the coming weeks to improve traffic flow along the embankment road. Officials said work will also be taken up to plug missing links on the 45-metre-wide sector road along the expressway, easing pressure on the main arterial corridor. The 25-km-long Noida Expressway, an arterial link between Delhi and Greater Noida, carries traffic from multiple entry points, including the DND Flyway, Chilla border and Kalindi Kunj. During office hours, traffic from adjoining sectors spills onto the corridor, often leading to slow-moving traffic and longer commute times.Officials said the embankment road, which runs parallel to the expressway, offers a viable alternative, particularly for local and intra-city traffic. A plan to have an elevated Kalindi Kunj-Sector 150 corridor, however, remains stalled. Pushta road was earlier part of a more ambitious plan to create a parallel riverside expressway corridor from Okhla Barrage near Kalindi Kunj to the Yamuna Expressway at Pari Chowk. At one stage, there were discussions on declaring the stretch a national highway so that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) could take up the project. However, the irrigation department withheld a no-objection certificate, citing concerns that construction could affect the embankment’s structural integrity and drainage channels. The proposal to involve NHAI by declaring the corridor a national highway also did not progress, leaving the larger parallel expressway plan stalled.A subsequent proposal for an elevated embankment expressway received in-principle approval from the Authority’s board, with the state govt asking the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority to execute it with shared funding from the three development authorities. Regulatory clearances, however, are still awaited.As an interim measure, the Authority is focusing on making the 45-metre-wide sector roads on both sides of the expressway fully functional. Three gaps—measuring 74 metres, 75 metres, and 81.5 metres—between Sectors 163 and 167 have prevented continuous movement, forcing residents of multiple sectors, including 150, 151, 152, 153, 155, 163, 167, 135, and 168, to use the expressway even for short trips. Officials said about 2.5 acres of land will be required to plug these breaks so that the sector roads can function as a diversion corridor during peak loads, emergencies, or maintenance on the main carriageway.
