Double-decker flyover revived

Delhi’s first double-decker viaduct stalled for nearly two years over a missing tree-felling clearance, and now the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has put the unfinished piece back out to tender so crews can build the remaining ramps and spans. The target is to finish the pending 1.4-kilometre stretch by the end of 2026. (hindustantimes.com) This is not two separate projects stacked by coincidence. It is one structure with a road flyover on the lower deck and a Delhi Metro line on the upper deck between Bhajanpura and Yamuna Vihar in northeast Delhi. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) The metro part is tied to Phase IV, the expansion that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said in June 2024 would add 65 kilometres across three priority corridors with a 2026 opening target. The Bhajanpura-Yamuna Vihar section sits on the Maujpur to Majlis Park corridor inside that buildout. (delhimetrorail.com, hindustantimes.com) A double-decker viaduct is Delhi’s way of squeezing two transport lanes into one narrow right of way. Instead of finding fresh land for a metro viaduct and then more land for a flyover, engineers pile them vertically and cut the footprint. (delhimetrorail.com, timesofindia.indiatimes.com) That design helps most in old, built-up parts of Delhi where every extra metre runs into shops, utilities, or homes. The catch is that one blocked ramp can hold up the road deck even when the metro deck above is structurally ready. (economictimes.indiatimes.com, hindustantimes.com) That is exactly what happened here. Hindustan Times reported in July 2025 that the metro viaduct itself had been completed, but both road ramps were still missing because the forest department had not cleared tree removal. (hindustantimes.com) The clearance finally moved in early 2026. Hindustan Times then reported that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation got permission to fell and transplant trees that had been blocking the ramp construction, removing the main obstacle that had frozen the site. (hindustantimes.com) Now the job is less about whether the structure is possible and more about whether the last pieces can be stitched together on time. The new tender covers ramp construction and span launching, which is the heavy lift of placing the remaining bridge sections into position. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com, hindustantimes.com) If it opens on schedule, the payoff is simple: metro trains get a dedicated elevated path above, while road traffic gets a new flyover below on the same corridor. In a city where widening roads usually means demolition battles, stacking the routes is the workaround. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com, delhimetrorail.com) Delhi has used that tradeoff before in pieces, but this is the first time the city is trying to make a full double-decker viaduct part of a major metro expansion. That makes this small 1.4-kilometre link a test of how Delhi plans to modernise crowded corridors without clearing them out completely. (hindustantimes.com, delhimetrorail.com)