Gurgaon: Road restoration work at the sinkhole on the service road of Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway near IFFCO Chowk is expected to begin on Thursday and take another two to three days.The main affected portion is around 10 metres long, but NHAI will restore a wider stretch of about 20 metres to address any weak spots around the sinkhole. Rain on Wednesday delayed the work, while the excavated area was kept under observation for a day to ensure the repaired sewer pipeline was functioning properly and there were no leakages.NHAI officials said dewatering of the pit had been completed. The next stage will involve removing loose soil and debris, refilling the excavated portion and compacting it in layers before restoring the road surface.“Some loose soil may have settled around the affected area. We will remove the debris, inspect the portion and then undertake filling and compaction before restoring the road,” an NHAI official said.The footpath adjoining the affected section will also be dismantled wherever necessary to facilitate levelling and proper compaction of the ground. Officials said the refilled section will be allowed to settle properly before the final road surface is laid.The NHAI official said the surrounding area would be inspected again during the restoration work and any additional defects found would also be addressed.The cave-in has disrupted traffic towards the U-turn flyover at the junction. The sinkhole developed on the service road last week, following damage to a 1,000-mm master sewer line running beneath the road. Authorities barricaded the area and diverted traffic, while sewage diversion and dewatering were undertaken before the pipeline could be repaired.GMDA has undertaken machine-wound spiral lining (MWSL) of around 100 metres of the sewer line. MWSL is a trenchless rehabilitation technique in which a structural PVC pipe is formed inside the existing damaged sewer line, allowing the pipeline to be strengthened without excavating the entire stretch of road.IFFCO Chowk is one of the city’s busiest traffic junctions. The U-turn flyover at the junction was completed in 2019 as part of a project launched in 2016 to reduce congestion on Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway.The latest cave-in comes weeks after a section of Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway near Narsinghpur caved in on July 7, triggering a major traffic jam. On Aug 10, a portion of Sohna Road near Adarsh School caved in after a dumper carrying construction material got stuck. On Aug 7, continuous rain caused a road cave-in near the IFFCO Chowk underpass.
