The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is going to open a 5km elevated road in Pilkhuwa next week.
The road has come up at a choke-point for long distance commuters headed towards Nainital, Moradabad, Bareilly and Lucknow and it took motorists almost one hour to cover the stretch during peak hours. The opening of the elevated road under phase 3 of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME) project will help commuters bypass Pilkhuwa town.
The phase 3 of the DME starts from Dasna in Ghaziabad and extends up to Nizampur bypass in Hapur. The 22km stretch under phase 3 is likely to be open by the end of July. However, the construction of the 5km elevated road was a major hurdle.
“The work on the elevated road is over and we will be opening it to traffic next week. After that, we will shift the Dasna toll plaza to Chijarsi village, where the elevated road. We have already sent a request for issuance of notification and also held a meeting on Thursday with the transport minister in this regard,” RP Singh, project director (NHAI), said.
Under phase 3, long-distance commuters will be able to use three lanes on each side as a highway, which two lanes on each side will be used by local traffic.
The phase 3 of DME has three major structures — an overbridge on the Upper Ganga Canal near Masuri (under construction), 5km elevated road at Pilkhuwa, and another flyover at Nizampur before the end of the stretch towards Hapur.
“The entire phase 3 will be opened by end of July after recarpeting of the entire stretch. The work on the overbridge at Upper Ganga Canal is progressing and will be ready by the time phase 3 of the expressway is complete,” Singh, said.
The 22km stretch of DME also has two pedestrian underpasses and 11 vehicular underpasses for movement of pedestrians and vehicles to either side of the highway.
The NHAI officials said they are speeding up work on phase 2 of the expressway — from UP Gate to Vijay Nagar — and it will be ready by end of June. The work on thee 19.2km stretch under phase 2 is about 54% complete.
The fourth phase is a greenfield alignment, comprising three expressway lanes on each side, from Dasna to Meerut, which is about 50% complete. The phase 1 of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, from Akshardham in Delhi to UP Gate in Ghaziabad, is already functional.
First Published: Jun 20, 2019 19:51 IST
