New Delhi: Over two years after the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway became operational, both the central and Haryana governments are struggling to find a solution to the Hero Honda Chowk mess. The road, transport and highways ministry now favours construction of an eight km-long, six-lane flyover on single pillars between Rajeev Chowk and Kherki Dhaula.

Sources said the ministry has asked a private consultant and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to mull over the idea and to carry out the necessary groundwork. They added that the ministry put forward the proposal after considering the options that the consultant had come up with recently.

The consultant was engaged by NHAI after the Haryana government expressed its inability to execute the original plan, that of constructing an underpass beneath the expressway at Hero Honda Chowk.

The state government had then proposed construction of an eight-lane elevated corridor over the expressway between Rajeev Chowk and Kherki Dhaula. But it did not find the ministry’s favour since it would have been an expensive solution. It was estimated the project would cost about Rs 700 crore.

Ministry sources said the elevated corridor was one of the options the consultant had come up with. ‘‘It suggested NHAI could undertake construction of four underpasses and three foot overbridges (FOBs) on the stretch, which would cost the government Rs 314 crore. The other solution was construction of four short flyovers involving investment of Rs 160 crore,’’ an official said.

The ministry came up with the fourth option of a six-lane elevated stretch over the existing expressway. ‘‘Only a few months back, a long and similar elevated corridor was inaugurated between Silk Board Junction and Electronics City in Bangalore. It has also been built on single pillars and nearly 1.5 lakh vehicles use the stretch every day,’’ a senior official said.

While the ministry’s proposal is an option worth weighing, the failure of the Haryana government to fix the problem at Hero Honda Chowk points to how the crisis is a creation of the state administration. Both NHAI and the Haryana government had agreed to construct an underpass beneath the expressway to allow non-stop traffic movement along the 28-km stretch and had agreed to bear the cost of the underpass equally. According to the original plan, the eight-lane underpass would have cost Rs 100 crore. Already, NHAI has approved the concept design of the 1.4 km-long underpass.