State govt on Monday approved the construction of 15.3km service roads on both sides of the Dwarka Expressway, a week ahead of the speedway’s inauguration. The move will address concerns raised by NHAI about the safety of commuters, who are often found taking the speedway through illegal cuts in the absence of service roads. It will also boost intra-city travel for residents of new sectors.The project, likely to cost around Rs 99.5 crore, was approved in a meeting of the high-power purchase committee on Monday. It is expected to take two and a half years to complete.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to inaugurate the expressway on March 11. In a letter sent last month to govt, the NHAI chairman said due to delay in construction of sector roads by GMDA, local traffic was accessing Dwarka Expressway in an unauthorised manner, posing a threat to road safety.
Even though the expressway will be opened to traffic soon, residents of nearby areas won’t have direct access to the access-controlled corridor until 2026, when work on the service roads will be complete. Until then, they will either have to take detours or use makeshift ramps.NHAI demolished several such unauthorised ramps on Friday, but many of them were reconstructed in a couple of days.There are around 200 societies in sectors along the expressway, where most of the city’s growing population is increasingly shifting, apart from several villages.
“While the inauguration of Dwarka Expressway is a significant milestone for the city, the delayed response from govt to ensure proper connectivity with the speedway will surely pose a challenge for commuters. We hope the authorities will take up this project speedily,” said Shantanu Parmar, a resident of Sector 109.