The old Rao Tula Ram (RTR) flyover in south Delhi, which carries traffic from the IGI Airport side towards Vasant Vihar, is being reopened to cars and two-wheelers from Monday evening (October 26), six days after cracks forced its closure. Buses, trucks, loaded tempos and other heavy vehicles will remain barred for at least another week, traffic police said.
The decision came after Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Parvesh Verma inspected the repaired ramp on Monday morning along with fellow minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa. Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi Traffic) Vikas Kumar said light vehicles would be allowed on the flyover after 6 pm.
What went wrong
According to officials, the damage was first spotted on the morning of October 20 by a traffic police zonal officer on patrol, who alerted his seniors and the PWD. The carriageway was shut as a precaution the same day. Verma said the inspection found deteriorated concrete in the gap slab section, cracks and exposed reinforcement bars. Officials said the main deterioration was at two locations, with a few other smaller damaged patches.
Repair work on the damaged section was finished on Friday, October 23. On Sunday, the PWD ran cube compressive strength tests on the new concrete and a structural consultant carried out load testing at night, with loaded trucks parked over the repaired patch. Officials said the results allowed a partial reopening, but the concrete still needs time to reach full strength.
The necessary repair work has been completed, and the flyover will be reopened for light vehicles starting this evening.
Parvesh Verma, Delhi PWD Minister
Who can use it, and who can’t
For now, only two-wheelers and light four-wheelers are permitted. Airport buses, DTC buses, company staff buses, trucks and loaded tempos will be diverted to the adjoining service road, which will stay in use for the next seven days. The PWD is installing a height barrier and signboards at the entrance to keep heavy vehicles off the ramp, and extra traffic personnel, including night shifts, will be posted to turn them away before they reach it.
Traffic officials said they will watch how the repaired stretch performs under regular traffic before allowing the full flow of vehicles.
Why it matters
Though only about 900 metres long, the flyover handles nearly two lakh vehicles a day, according to traffic police, linking the airport and Gurugram with Vasant Vihar and the rest of south Delhi. Its closure pushed traffic onto the service road and alternative routes, and the traffic police had reported congestion on NH-48, the Dhaula Kuan stretch and roads through Delhi Cantonment. In Gurugram, slow-moving traffic stretched for nearly six kilometres on NH-48 between Rajiv Chowk and Leisure Valley Park.
Background and what next
The flyover was opened on October 9, 2009, as part of a PWD project to ease congestion on the Outer Ring Road. After a parallel elevated RTR flyover opened in July 2019, the older structure became a one-way route for traffic coming from the airport. Its deck slabs developed significant cracks within 17 years of construction.
Verma said a comprehensive structural audit of the flyover is under way to check its strength and long-term safety and to look for other weak points. Heavy vehicles are expected to return only after the concrete has cured and officials review the results.
