Giving the much-needed respite to thousands of commuters travelling between Noida, Delhi and Ghaziabad, Noida Authority on Tuesday will kick-off construction of a Rs 112 crore underpass at the Model Town crossing on NH-24. The underpass will decongest the crossing which gets choked during peak hours on all weekdays.

To minimize inconvenience to commuters, 'Box Push' technology will be used to construct the underpass which is expected to get ready in 18 months.

To further streamline traffic at the crossing, the Authority has decided to construct four cloverleaves-two on either side of the NH-24. While vehicles coming from Delhi will enter Noida through a loop, those going towards Indirapuram and Vasundhara will not have to use the highway.

Once complete, the underpass will benefit over 1 lakh commuters using the stretch daily, helping them directly access NH-24 without any stops, officials said.

Traffic snarls on NH-24, especially during peak hours, have become routine. The situation gets worse when vehicles coming from Vijay Nagar merge with the traffic coming from Indirapuram at the CISF crossing. This leads to frequent jams on the 150m-long stretch between CISF crossing and Model Town crossing, with those taking left turn for Sector 63 towards Noida also getting stuck.

"Given the heavy traffic movement between Noida, Ghaziabad and Delhi through the intersection on NH-24, it is necessary to build the underpasses in a way that they ensure smooth flow of traffic. We will use 'Box Push' technology to keep traffic disruption to the minimum," said KR Verma, project engineer, Noida.

Once construction of the underpass gets underway, the Authority, in consultation with the traffic police, will also draw out a diversion plan for commuters. As per the plan, the left and right turn at the T-point of the road connecting Sectors 62 and 63 with NH-24 will be widened to three lanes. Also, traffic going from Ghaziabad and Delhi towards Noida will be diverted through an underpass near the CISF housing society.

A defunct underpass near Shipra Mall has also been revamped so that it can be used by those travelling between Ghaziabad and Noida, officials said.