DELHI LEG OF MEERUT EWAY TO OPEN NEXT MONTH

Union minister Gadkari says 8.7km stretch from Nizamuddin bridge to UP border coming up ahead of schedule

NEWDELHI:The first leg of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, between Nizamuddin bridge and Delhi-UP border along NH-24, will be completed by next month, said Nitin Gadkari, Union minister for road transport and highways, on Tuesday.

The minister also announced that the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, connecting MG Road with NH-8 in Gurgaon, will be opened by January 26.

While the Delhi-Meerut Expressway will reduce the travel time significantly between the two NCR cities to just 45 minutes from 3-4 hours at present, the Eastern Peripheral Expressway will provide a crucial ring road around Delhi for heavy vehicles, helping significantly decrease vehicular pollution.

The minister said the work on the eastern and the Western Peripheral Expressways, connecting Dwarka with NH-8, was “going on at full speed”. Both the expressways will converge near Kherki Daula toll plaza on NH-8 in Gurgaon.

“Once the NH-24 and the two peripheral expressways are ready, vehicles destined for neighbouring states will be able to bypass Delhi, reducing vehicular pollution by nearly 50 per cent,” Gadkari said.

The minister said that the Delhi-Meerut Expressway was being completed in a record 14 months against the scheduled time of 30 months.

“The first package of NH-24 project, stretching from Akshardham Temple to Delhi-UP border will be ready by December this year,” the minister said.

The Delhi leg of the Meerut expressway will be 8.7km long and have 14 lanes, maximum for any highway in the country. It will also have a 2.5-metre-wide cycle track on either side, a vertical garden on the Yamuna bridge, solar lighting system and watering of plants through drip irrigation.

Gadkari said the DelhiMeerut

Expressway will be further extended to Lucknow, and will serve as a lifeline for the people of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

The minister said that projects worth ₹40,000 crore are going on to decongest Delhi.

“These include plans for Dhaula Kuan stretch, Dwarka Expressway and a Ring Road for

Delhi, the cost of which will be borne jointly by the Centre and the Delhi government,” Gadkari said.

The highways authority has taken up development of DelhiMeerut Expressway as presently there is only one route, NH-58 between the two cities, on which there are several traffic bottlenecks.