The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has launched massive road construction projects to ease traffic woes and facilitate better connectivity in the national capital region (NCR), keeping in mind the area’s growing population and rapid increase in the number of cars.
Nitin Gadkari, the Minister for Road Transport and Highways, along with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), has recently announced eight major road connectivity projects that will facilitate better and faster connectivity with all the satellite towns across NCR.
For the decongestion of Delhi and Gurugram, the ministry has proposed at least four projects, one of which will be a 28 km long eight-lane access control road with a total project cost of Rs 6,300 crore on an EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) mode. This 28 km long road will be along the Dwarka Expressway of NH 248BB in Delhi and NH-8 in Haryana and will help ease vehicular traffic movement from Delhi to Gurugram, as well as provide better and faster connectivity to the airport for residents staying in Gurugram. Another major project meant to decongest the infamous Hero Honda Chowk in Gurugram, which reports miles of traffic congestion every year, especially during the monsoons, is also underway. This project will see the construction of flyovers and underpasses for 36 km, at a total cost of Rs 197 crore.
A 13 km long border road between Rajiv Chowk in Gurugram to Nuh near the Rajasthan-Gurugram border for better connectivity between the two cities is also likely to kick off at an estimated project cost of over Rs 796 crore.
Apart from this, the ministry has also started work on the Dhaula Kuan-IGI (Indira Gandhi International Airport) signal free corridor, which will take commuters to the airport from Dhaula Kuan in 15 minutes flat, saving time and easing traffic congestion on the stretch. This project will be completed at a cost of Rs 270 crore. The Ministry of Defence has also agreed to transfer 13 acres of land for this project.
According to sources in the ministry, the proposed project will have flyovers and will be a signal free corridor; it will also have different bus bays for segregating heavy traffic. An underpass for the movement of defence vehicles will also be a part of this project.
For better connectivity in the Ghaziabad region from Delhi, the Ghaziabad-Hindon elevated road was also recently inaugurated. It is a six-lane elevated road that connects UP Gate near Delhi with Raj Nagar Extension on NH24. The 10.5 km long road will cut travel time between Delhi and Ghaziabad from over an hour to just 20-25 minutes.
This drive comes after several complaints regarding traffic snarls across the national capital reaching the ministry. These projects will also help the growth and expansion of the satellite towns across NCR since it will facilitate better connectivity, giving a boost to the real estate sector in areas like Gurugram, Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad.
The much talked about Delhi-Meerut Expressway too is speeding towards the completion of its first phase. According to the project details, the road will be a 16-lane highway from Delhi to Dasna after which the expressway will be a six-lane highway. This expressway will also have solar lightning and vertical gardens.
Not only this, it will also have a 2.5 metre wide cycle track and 1.5 metre of footpath to facilitate pedestrian movement. A source in the ministry indicated that the project will be completed in a record time of 15 months against the targeted 30 months. The source also said that in the first phase, the ministry will open the expressway up to Dasna, after which the complete highway from Delhi to Meerut will be opened. This will cut travel time between the two cities by more than an hour.
Another path-breaking project that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will soon inaugurate will be the Eastern Peripheral Expressway. This Expressway will provide connectivity between Delhi, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Greater Noida, Baghpat and Sonipat. It will be a 135-km long, six-lane expressway and will have two sections—the Palwal-Ghaziabad section and the Ghaziabad-Sonipat section. It is being built with state-of-the-art technology and design at a cost of Rs 4,420 crore.
A spokesperson from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways told The Sunday Guardian, “The ministry is working towards better connectivity in NCR for which several projects have been designed and are being worked upon. We expect them to be completed soon, even before deadlines.”