A foot overbridge (FOB), constructed near Mayur Vihar Phase-I, stands tall as an example of bad planning and wasted public funds.

Built at a cost of Rs 1.62 crore in 2011, the FOB was supposed to ensure signal-free movement for vehicles on the UP Link Road. However, the structure, which ends abruptly on the divider instead of stretching all the way to the other side of the road, has become the very reason for the installation of a signal there.

The signal has been put up to ensure safe crossing for pedestrians who take the FOB, get off at the divider and cross the remaining stretch of the road to get to Mayur Vihar Phase-I.

This FOB on the road from Noida to Akshardham Temple, along with two others, were supposed to be part of the larger project on UP Link Road taken up by Public Works Department before the Commonwealth Games 2010. "The FOB was, however, constructed after the Games and completed by April 2011," a PWD official said.

A single-lane flyover runs parallel to the road and has been built to facilitate signal-free movement of traffic from Pushta to Noida. It runs over the Mayur Vihar Phase-I junction. So a pedestrian taking the FOB from the Akshardham Temple will have to get off in the middle of the road, cross over from under the flyover or walk all the way back to the U-turn under the flyover to get to Mayur Vihar Phase-I.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had in July 2011, asked PWD to study the situation and take corrective measures because despite an FOB being in place, pedestrians were still braving traffic to cross the road.

"Thereafter, a red-light or a pelican crossing was installed in December 2011 to ensure safe pedestrian movement. However, it has been placed just ahead of the FOB, so traffic moving straight has to stop there, and that makes no sense at all. The purpose of installing the red-light was to stop traffic moving right so that pedestrians who got off the FOB could cross the remaining patch of the road without any trouble,'' a PWD official said.

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