The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Friday initiated to restructure the entry/exit on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME) near Ghaziabad’s Crossings Republik township.
The project is likely to complete and streamline flow of traffic between the DME and National Highway 9 (NH9).
The Delhi-Meerut Expressway stretches 59.77 kms from Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi to Partapur in Meerut, with a 19km section from UP Gate to Dasna in Ghaziabad.
The expressway has 14 lanes for traffic, with three inner lanes on each side meant for the expressway and four outer lanes on each side used as NH9.
The entry/exit point near Crossings Republik is currently placed in such a way that many vehicles drive for several metres on the wrong side of NH9 to get onto the expressway while heading from Ghaziabad to Delhi.
This creates traffic issues and risk as traffic coming on the expressway lanes gets hindered from vehicles trying to move to expressway lanes from NH9.
“According to the proposed plan, the entry/exit point will be shifted 500 metres towards Lal Kuan. It is also proposed that an entry point on the Ghaziabad to Delhi-lane from NH9 to DME will be constructed 300 metres after the Crossings Republik township for ease of commuters from Crossings Republik and Greater Noida West,” said an official from NHAI who is not authorised to speak to media.
The Lal Kuan intersection has a huge traffic flow on surface road between Aligarh and Ghaziabad while it also caters to traffic from DME which passes over it.
The officials said that the project will cost about ₹9.5 crore while adding that the DME and NH9 stretch in Ghaziabad (UP-Gate to Dasna) has a daily traffic flow of about three lakh passenger car units.
The move will end the need for commuters to drive on the wrong side, and traffic from Crossings Republik and NH9 will merge smoothly with traffic on expressway lanes.
On Friday, Ghaziabad MP Gen VK Singh (retd.), who is also minister of state for road transport & highways and civil aviation, flagged off the start of the work.
“The entry/exits will help commuters move easily to the main carriageway (of DME) and will also not hamper traffic,” he said.