Nitin Gadkari to formally inaugurate Delhi-Meerut Expressway today
The expressway, which connects the two cities in just 45 minutes instead of the earlier 2.5 hours, was opened for vehicular traffic in April this year.
Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari will be in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut on Thursday to formally inaugurate and dedicate to the nation the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, which was opened for public in April this year.
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The expressway cuts the travel time between the two cities to just 45 minutes from the earlier two-and-a-half hours.
According to Hindustan Times' sister publication Livehindustan, Gadkari, accompanied by General (retired) VK Singh, who is a Minister of State in the former's ministry, will travel from Delhi to Meerut via road.
Before arriving in Meerut, the two ministers will be in Dasna, in Singh's Lok Sabha constituency, Ghaziabad, to launch the Integrated Command Control Room, which has been set up to keep an eye on activities taking place on the expressway. The control room is scheduled to be inaugurated at 11am.
Gadkari and Singh will also participate in several programmes of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which will take place in Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Haridwar.
The Delhi-Meerut Expressway, meanwhile, has a total length of 96km and comprises 14 lanes. The route has been divided into four phases; while the first phase connects Akshardham in the national capital to UP gate, the second is between UP gate and Dasna. The third and fourth are between Dasna and Hapur, and Dasna and Meerut, respectively.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated phase 1 of the project in April 2018.