A 464-metre underpass at Shankar Chowk was opened on Sunday after opening for short intervals on Friday and Saturday. With the opening of the underpass, those heading from Ambience Mall and DLF Phase-3 can reach the Iffco Chowk junction directly through the one-way underpass.Commuters will no longer have to take a long diversion through Cyber City to reach Iffco Chowk or access Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway.

The three-lane underpass is aimed at easing congestion at Shankar Chowk, where traffic from the expressway, Udyog Vihar and Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road merges.

DLF and the Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) are jointly building a corridor, with an underpass each at Genpact crossing and DLF Phase-2 Metro station, which is expected to be completed by June. At present, five of the seven underpasses on the 8.3km, signal-free, high-speed corridor from sector 55/56 to Shankar Chowk are completed.

The underpass was opened on Friday and Saturday for short intervals. However, it was closed due to encroachment by taxis and autorickshaws, besides the heavy traffic flow.

The underpass was permanently opened on Sunday, after traffic police officials cleared taxis and autorickshaws from the spot, and guided traffic towards the underpass in the absence of proper signage.

“This one-way underpass is near Gateway Tower, abutting the slip road of the NH-8, and will direct the traffic coming from Delhi towards Iffco Chowk. This project, titled ‘Straight Underpass’, has been undertaken as a part of upgrading larger infrastructure. The underpass allows the commuters to bypass the heavily congested Shankar Chowk and helps divert traffic towards Iffco Chowk. The 464-metre, 3-lane underpass has been opened and will considerably reduce the travel time for commuters and also help distribute traffic uniformly,” a spokesperson for DLF said.

Ashok Saini of Sector 15, part-2, said, “The opening of the underpass has provided huge relief. After work (at Ambience Mall), I could not access the expressway unless I took a three-kilometre diversion through Cyber City. Now, I can now take the underpass and cut my travel time by 20 minutes.”