Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister for Highways and Road Transport announced on Thursday that the 212-kilometer-long Delhi-Dehradun six-lane expressway, which will be access-controlled, is being built and will be finished by this year’s end.
Union Minister General VK Singh was accompanied by the BJP MP Manoj Tiwari, BJP MP Dr. Satyapal Singh, Delhi BJP MLA Ramesh Bidhuri, and UP minister of the state Jitin Prasada performed an aerial inspection on Thursday. Even more, the minister posted a number of overhead photos of the live under- construction site on their official Twitter handle.
The 6-Lane Bridge to Cost $12,000
According to Gadkari, the six-lane bridge, which cost INR12,000 crores to build, will cut the travel distance from Delhi and Dehradun from 235 kms to 212 kms and the travel duration from 6 hours to 2 or 2.5 hours. He claimed the motorway’s development was completed between 60% and 70%.
Features of the New Expressway
The 6-lane Delhi-Dehradun motorway (NH 72A) is being built from the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway (DME) near Akshardham in Delhi Khajuri Khas, Shastri Park, and the EPE interchange located near Khekra in Mandola, and continuing to Dehradun through Baghpat, Saharanpur, and Shamli. In order to help with traffic, a 340-metre-long, three-lane tunnel is under construction near Datkali for INR 1,995 crore.
The road is raised for around 18 km of the first phase’s 31.6 km length, passing through populated areas as it travels from Akshardham towards the EPE crossing.
Gadkari added that the development of the complete corridor had included a number of specific features. The wildlife may move safely along the road from Ganeshpur towards Dehradun. The motorway also includes a 12-kilometre elevated route, six underpasses for animals, two underpasses for elephants, 2 large and 13 smaller bridges.
The Traveller Comfort
The complete motorway is being built, including 62 bus shelters, 113 VUPs (Vehicular Under Passes), LVUPs (Light Vehicular Under Passes), SVUPs (Small Vehicular Under Passes), four major bridges and five ROBs. The minister added that in addition to the 76 km service road, 16 entry-exit points, and a 29 km elevated road is also being built.
On the motorway, 12 facilities are available for the comfort of travellers.
A 51 km, six-lane Greenfield road connecting Haridwar to this highway is also under construction at a price of INR 2,095 crores, cutting the travel time between Delhi – Haridwar to 1.5 hours.
