India’s First Elevated Urban Expressway, Delhi To Gurugram – Free PDF

What has happened?

• Union minister Nitin Gadkari has said that he is hopeful that the construction work on ₹8,662-crore Dwarka Expressway will be completed before 15 August, 2022.
• The 29-km expressway, which connects Dwarka in Delhi to Gurugram, has been constructed under the Bharatmala Project.
• “He reviewed the progress of India’s First Grade Separated Urban Expressway, Dwarka Expressway,” an official statement said.

Built in 4 packages

• Being built in four packages, the total length of the expressway is 29 kilometres out of which 9-kilometre length falls in Haryana while the remaining 10.1-kilometre length is in Delhi.
• It starts from Shiv-Murti on National Highway-8 and ends near KherkiDaula Toll Plaza.

How it’ll be beneficial?

• Gadkari said it will be the first-ever elevated Urban Expressway in India.
• Its construction will also immensely help to reduce air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region.
• The Delhi-Gurugram section of National Highway-8 is presently carrying traffic of over three lakh passenger car units (PCUs), which is much beyond the design capacity of this 8-lane highway, leading to severe congestion.
• With the construction of the present project, 50 to 60% of traffic on National Highway-8 will be reduced, the minister added.
• The project will also provide around 50,000 direct or indirect employment
• Once complete, the minister said, it will be an “engineering marvel” of the country with the longest (3.6 kilometres) and widest (8 lanes) urban road tunnel in India.
• The project’s road network will also comprise of four levels, i.e. tunnel/ underpass, at-grade road, elevated flyover and flyover above flyover.

• The project also comprises India’s first 9-km long 8-lane flyover (34-metre wide) on single pier with 6-lane service roads.
• There will be a fully automated tolling system with 22 lanes toll plaza.
• The entire project will be equipped with an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS).
• The project has a total estimated consumption of two lakh MT of steel, which is 30 times that of the Eiffel Tower.
• The total estimated consumption of 20 lakh Cum of Concrete is six times of the Burj Khalifa

Bharatmala Project?

• Bharatmala Pariyojana is an umbrella program for the highways sector that focuses on optimizing efficiency of freight and passenger movement across the country,
• By bridging critical infrastructure gaps through effective interventions like development of Economic Corridors, Inter Corridors and Feeder Routes, National Corridor Efficiency Improvement, Border and International connectivity roads, Coastal and Port connectivity roads and Green-field expressways.
• The project was cleared by the Union Cabinet on October 25, 2017.
• It is the second largest highways construction project in the country since NHDP, under which almost 50,000 km or highway roads were targeted across the country.
• The first phase of the Bharatmala scheme includes construction of 24,800 km of national highways.

Current progress

• While the programme was initially envisaged to be completed by the end of fiscal 2022,
• It has faced the issue of delayed land acquisition, which remains a major concern for infrastructure projects.
• The award of works under the Bharatmala scheme is expected to be complete by fiscal 2023, execution of the projects will take an additional two years.
• As of December 2020, projects of around 13,500 km length were awarded.
• By March this year, work on another 2,500 km of projects is expected to be given.

Q) Which of the following statements regarding National Highways Development Project is correct?

1. It was started in 1998 under the leadership of Dr. Manmohan Singh.
2. The NHDP represents around 50,000 km of roads and highways in the country.

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 & 2
4. None of the above

Latest Burning Issues | Free PDF

Sharing is caring!