Kalanki Underpass Shuts Down Temporarily as Traffic Jam Resumes. Nepal’s first 800-meter underpass between Khasi Bazaar and Batal Chowk that opened for trials last week remains closed since Wednesday morning (22nd August).
The Kalanki underpass is the part of 10.5km Kalanki to Koteshwor road along the Ring Road built using China’s fund of NPR. 5.13 billion. The underpass work started back in 2013.
Kathmandu Ring Road Improvement Project (KRRIP) Project Manager, Prakash Bhandari said, “The underpass needs minor finishing work, traffic sign boards, and dividers. The pollution level is high in the area. This is why we have closed the underpass for a few days. It will open within a week.” “The first layer of asphalt is done on the underpass. The second layer of asphalting will be done on the mid-September”, added Bhandari.
The Kalanki underpass will re-open on December 5. The original date of opening was June 29. Officials attributed the delay to ‘Technical Reasons’. Closure of the underpass has disrupted the smooth flow of traffic in Kalanki. Metropolitan Traffic Police (Kalanki) Inspector Bimal Thapa said, “The opening of the underpass was a great relief to motorists and commuters using public transport. Vehicles coming from Balkhu and heading to Bafal and vice versa progressed smoothly. Now traffic jams have started again.”
The Metropolitan Traffic Police Division’s data shows around 70,000 people travel daily in over 8,000 public and private vehicles through Kalanki. On average, people endure two-hour traffic jams.
Reference:The Himalayan Times