CRRI urges NHAI to complete access road linking south Delhi colonies to NH-148NA

Access roads, one complete, will ease traffic flow in Batla House, New Friends Colony, Zakir Nagar, Khizrabad and Taimoor Nagar

New Delhi: To ease chronic congestion along Mathura Road and Sir CV Raman Marg, the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), in a communique, urged the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to complete access roads connecting multiple south Delhi localities to the NH-148NA, which is the DND–Manesar spur of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, on a priority basis.

Traffic congestion on the Mathura Road. (HT Archive)

In a letter sent in September, S Velmurugan, chief scientist and head of the traffic engineering and safety division at CSIR-CRRI, noted that the absence of completed access roads was resulting in severe bottlenecks for thousands of daily commuters. The access roads, one complete, will ease traffic flow in Batla House, New Friends Colony, Zakir Nagar, Khizrabad and Taimoor Nagar, which are accessed by over 100,000 vehicles daily.

“The huge traffic volume plying on Sir CV Raman Marg and Mathura Road is causing severe congestion and gridlocks for residents of the adjoining colonies… Completing the pending access roads will provide major relief and ease out the traffic congestion by offering an alternative route for vehicles heading towards central and south Delhi, including the airport, New Delhi railway station, Barapullah Elevated Road, as well as toward Noida and Faridabad,” reads the letter, a copy of which HT has seen.

The proposed NH-148NA corridor, which connects the DND Flyway in Delhi to Manesar and converges into the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, aims to reduce travel time between Delhi and Gurugram to under 30 minutes. The 59-km stretch, built at an estimated cost of over ₹4,000 crore, is expected to decongest key arterial routes, such as Mathura Road, Ashram Chowk and NH-48.

The CRRI, emphasising that access links on both sides of the highway will be essential to ensure seamless local connectivity and prevent over-reliance on the already burdened Mathura Road, recommends that NHAI coordinate with local authorities to complete the approach roads simultaneously alongside the NH-148NA.

Residents across densely populated localities said they have also made several representations to various government departments and agencies regarding the construction of the access road, but to no avail.

“This elevated expressway passes by urban villages of Taimoor Nagar, Khizrabad and Zakir Nagar, as well as other congested areas like Okhla barrage, Shaheen Bagh and Ali Gaon, making its way to Madanpur Khadar and beyond, all regions that are essentially traffic gridlocks. What we really need is an alternative route to help alleviate some of this congestion. There is an existing dirt road that runs beneath the expressway, starting at the DND culvert and ending at Batla House near Pahlwan Chowk; this should be improved and made permanent,” said Rajiv Kapoor, vice president, New Friends Colony residents’ welfare association.

He said that commutes rely heavily on the CV Raman Marg, Gurudwara Road, Ashoka Park Road, JDM Musafir Marg and other peripheral roads of New Friends Colony, which were never designed to handle high traffic volumes.

Officials familiar with the project said that construction on the DND-Faridabad-Manesar spur is currently in the final phase, with several structural and finishing works expected to be completed within the next four months. Once ready, the corridor will provide direct connectivity between the DND Flyway, Faridabad bypass and the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, forming a major link between the eastern and western ends of the NCR.

Senior officials from the Delhi government said the completion of NH-148NA is a priority under the larger Delhi Decongestion Plan of the Union ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH), which aims to divert traffic from central Delhi to peripheral expressways.

“The Delhi–Mumbai Expressway and its spurs are designed to take pressure off arterial roads inside the city. Access management and local linkages are an important component of this plan,” a ministry official said.

The NH-148NA is one of the three NCR connectivity spurs under the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway project that aims to improve connectivity between Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad. The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, inaugurated in parts since 2023, is India’s longest expressway, spanning 1,386km, across six states.