Shankar Chowk Service-Road Upgrade Paused as Gurugram Awaits RRTS Coordination

GURUGRAM: A planned widening of the NH-48 service road between Shankar Chowk and Atlas Chowk has been paused after the current tender was cancelled, delaying a project intended to ease one of Udyog Vihar's most congested office corridors.

The Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation had invited bids for the 1.6-km upgrade at an estimated value of Rs 19.80 crore. The official e-procurement record now marks the tender as cancelled. The road plan is being reconsidered alongside the proposed Regional Rapid Transit System infrastructure around Shankar Chowk.

Widening designed for a narrow corridor

The existing service road is roughly seven metres wide in several portions and carries intense office traffic. Parked vehicles, commercial access and construction activity frequently reduce its usable width. The abandoned tender proposed widening the carriageway to between 11 and 14 metres, depending on land availability.

The contract had allowed 365 days for the work after award. Since the tender has been cancelled, that construction clock never began. HSIIDC will need to finalise a revised design or procurement strategy before any reliable completion date can be given.

Transit projects reshape Shankar Chowk

Shankar Chowk is expected to become a major interchange area. Plans place an RRTS station in the vicinity, while the Old Gurugram metro alignment is also intended to connect near the existing Rapid Metro network. Entry points, station structures, utility corridors and pedestrian movement could all affect the footprint available for the service road.

Building the road first and then cutting or narrowing it for rail infrastructure would waste money and create another cycle of disruption. Coordination before construction is therefore sensible. The cost is that commuters continue using a constrained road while agencies settle the combined layout.

The cancellation record does not mean the widening has been permanently abandoned. It means the present tender will not proceed in its issued form. A revised tender, changed scope or integrated transport plan will be needed before work can resume.

Interim traffic management still needed

The pause does not remove the daily congestion problem. HSIIDC and traffic police can still improve lane discipline, enforce parking restrictions at bottlenecks, mark safe pick-up points and keep construction material off the carriageway. Pedestrian access also needs protection because office workers regularly cross or walk beside fast-moving traffic in the area.

A transparent update would help businesses and commuters plan. Agencies should state which RRTS design decision affects the road, when the coordinated layout is expected and whether the project estimate will change. Silence can make a planning pause look like abandonment even when engineering coordination is genuinely required.

Shankar Chowk cannot be designed as separate road, metro and RRTS projects occupying the same limited space. The cancelled tender offers a chance to integrate those systems. The benefit will be realised only if the redesign moves quickly enough to avoid leaving the corridor in a prolonged holding pattern.