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Delhi Meerut Expressway: Two lanes over Hindon canal likely to be opened this week
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has planned to open 14 lanes of the Delhi Meerut Expressway (DME), from UP Gate up to Pratap Vihar, by the end of
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has planned to open 14 lanes of the Delhi Meerut Expressway (DME), from UP Gate up to Pratap Vihar, by the end of February. According to officials, these include the lanes being constructed over the Hindon canal near UP Gate, as well as over the River Hindon Bridge near Chijarsi.
This stretch, around nine kilometres, is part of the second phase of the DME. The total length of the second phase is about 19.2km and it extends from UP Gate to Dasna. It is proposed to have six expressway lanes and eight highway lanes.
According to officials, the work over the two water bodies had been going on since September last year and faced hurdles due to ban on construction activities and inclement weather conditions.
“The two under-construction lanes of the DME going over the Hindon canal are likely to get completed soon and we are planning to open it by next week. As of now, there are only two operational Delhi to Ghaziabad lanes over the canal. On the opposite side of the road, the lanes going from Ghaziabad to Delhi are operational. Once these under-construction lanes are open, there will be no congestion at UP Gate,” said RP Singh, project director, NHAI.
“Meanwhile, over the Hindon Bridge near Chijarsi, all eight lanes taking traffic from Ghaziabad to Delhi are already operational and on the opposite side of the road, four lanes from Delhi to Ghaziabad are operational. Most of the work on the rest of the four lanes from Delhi to Ghaziabad is done. These will be finished and be made operational likely by the end of February,” he said.
The lanes of over the two water bodies differ in size from the highway and expressway lanes of the DME, said officials. “Hence, with the opening of these lanes, the DME lanes will merge and be opened for traffic. In this manner, the entire 9km stretch from UP Gate to Pratap Vihar of the DME’s second phase will be opened by next month’s end,” Singh added.
This 9km stretch witnesses major movement of commuters between Delhi, Ghaziabad and Noida, in addition to catering to adjoining residential areas and commercial establishments.
“At present, there are major bottlenecks during peak hours at UP Gate and also at entry points to inner areas of Indirapuram. Commuters often get stuck up to 15-20 minutes due to congestion, in addition to which they have to wade through dust pollution at the under-construction stretch from UP Gate to Vijay Nagar,” said Rohit Srivastava, a commuter.
The phase two, besides providing 18 underpasses to commuters for connectivity between the two cities, will also have entry/exit points to move to expressway lanes. Officials said that work for several underpasses from Vijay Nagar to Dasna is also going on.
The entire phase two is slotted for completion by May 2020 and is pegged at a cost of ₹1,989 crore. The phase four of the DME, running from Dasna to Meerut over a stretch of 32km, is also scheduled to be completed by May this year.
