News: From October 15, expressway traffic can take U-turn underpass-17-09-2021
Gurgaon: The U-turn underpass on NH8 at the Delhi-Gurgaon border, near Ambience mall, will be inaugurated and opened to commuters on October 15, Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.Gadkari was in the city to inspect the construction of the Delhi-Mumbai expressway, touted as the longest in the country, near Lohatki village. He was accompanied by Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh.
Speaking to the media, the minister said the 2.79km-long underpass, which has been completed at a cost of Rs 163 crore, will provide relief to people in both Delhi and Haryana.
Work on the four-lane underpass had started in January 2019, with an initial deadline of 18 months set for its completion. At present, commuters travelling from Gurgaon towards Ambience Mall have to drive all the way to Rajokri and then take a U-turn to return, adding 4km to their journey. Once opened, the underpass will save them both time and money.
Listing “a slew of measures” undertaken to reduce traffic jams on the expressway, Gadkari said, “Construction of flyovers and underpasses at IFFCO Chowk, Signature Tower Chowk and Rajiv Chowk has already been completed at a cost of Rs 500 crore in 2019. At Hero Honda Chowk too, a flyover and underpass have been constructed at a cost of Rs 140 crore.”
Projects have also been approved at three other points on the expressway — Bilaspur, Kapdiwas and Manesar — for a cost of Rs 250 crore, Gadkari said. Khattar also underlined the need to create underpasses or flyovers at these intersections “to provide convenience to people and reduce accidents on the highway”.
Gadkari said work is also being done on his “dream project” — a public transport system run on electricity from Dhaula Kuan in Delhi to Kherki Daula in Gurgaon. “We will commission an economic and viability study for it,” he added.
A similar project is also being considered for Dwarka Expressway, Gadkari said. Terming it a “state of the art project”, he said more innovations are planned for the stretch. “We are making three layers of flyovers in Pune, Chennai, Ranchi, Jamshedpur – an eight-lane road at the bottom, a six-lane road above it, another six-lane road above that and a metro on top. On Dwarka Expressway too, we are trying to see if a public transport system on electricity can be planned using pods, which will make it easier to go to Delhi from Haryana.”
In 2016, while laying the foundation stone of an infrastructure project in the city, Gadkari had spoken of a ‘pod taxi project’ planned to connect Delhi and Gurgaon. So far, it has not materialised.
