Nearly two months after the municipal corporation (MC) widened a portion of the Mall Road–Bharat Chowk intersection by demolishing a boundary structure, the newly added stretch remains unfinished, posing a serious safety risk to commuters.The dug up area for constructing slipway at Mall Road-Bharat Nagar Chowk in Ludhiana on Sunday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)The civic body has neither levelled the expanded area with the existing road nor installed warning signs or reflectors, increasing the risk of accidents, especially at night.The expansion was undertaken to ease the persistent traffic bottleneck at the busy intersection, where Mall Road narrows for around 50-100 metres. A slip road connecting Mall Road to Ferozepur Road towards Jagraon Bridge is also planned as part of the project to improve traffic flow after the installation of traffic signals at the junction.However, while the MC removed the outer wall of an old quarters complex owned by the sewage board on May 4 and added the land to the road, construction work has yet to begin. The newly acquired portion is lower than the existing carriageway, creating a dangerous drop for motorists.Road safety expert and Punjab State Road Safety Council member Rahul Verma said the unfinished stretch could lead to major accidents. “The MC should at least barricade the newly added area with sandbags covered in reflective material to alert commuters,” he said.Superintending engineer (buildings and roads cell), MC, Sham Lal Gupta, said road construction would begin soon and warning signs would be installed in the interim. He added that the corporation is awaiting necessary permissions to remove at least two trees located within the project area.An electricity pole standing on the expanded stretch also needs to be relocated before construction can proceed. The road forms part of the World Class Roads project, although the MC has not announced any timeline for completing the work.