The Centre plans to transform three significant stretches of National Highways (NH) passing through Delhi into largely signal-free routes to alleviate congestion and reduce travel time, as stated by the road transport ministry during a Lok Sabha session on Thursday.
The NH stretches from Ashram to Badarpur, Mehrauli to Gurgaon, and Punjabi Bagh to Tikri Border will primarily be made signal-free through the construction of flyovers, while an interchange will be established at the Kalindi Kunj intersections to ensure smooth traffic flow.
In response to a supplementary inquiry in the Lok Sabha, Harsh Malhotra, the minister of state in the road transport ministry and MP for East Delhi, indicated that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is currently developing detailed project reports for the three NH stretches. “Three flyovers will be constructed on the Ashram-Badarpur stretch to render it mostly signal-free.
At present, due to congestion, travel time is approximately one to one-and-a-half hours. This duration will be significantly reduced. Likewise, the travel time between Mehrauli and Gurgaon will be cut down to merely 15 minutes instead of the existing one hour once this stretch is made signal-free,” Malhotra remarked in reply to a question posed by South Delhi MP Ram Vir Singh Bidhuri.
The minister further noted that the Punjabi Bagh to Tikri Border stretch of the NH traversing through Delhi will also be largely made signal-free by erecting flyovers at key junctions. He mentioned that this improvement will decrease travel time to approximately 30 minutes, compared to the current one-and-a-half hours.
“In addition, we will render the intersection at Kalindi Kunj signal-free by constructing an interchange akin to the one at Dhaula Kuan. Six roads converge at Kalindi Kunj. We are optimistic that the DND-Faridabad stretch of the Delhi-Mumbai expressway will become operational within the next six months,” Malhotra added.
Providing another update regarding the NH projects in the National Capital Region (NCR), the minister announced that the Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor is expected to be fully operational within the next 8-10 days. This corridor will reduce travel time from Delhi to the hill capital to under two-and-a-half hours.
