look news india
A big news has come as a relief for lakhs of drivers, daily commuters and logistics operators who commute daily in Delhi-NCR. The trial run of the new elevated and signal-free link expressway directly connecting Sohna and Palwal of Haryana with Sarai Kale Khan and DND Flyway of the capital Delhi has proved to be a complete ‘superhit’. During the trial, vehicles were seen speeding on the entire 59 kilometer long modern stretch. The distance which used to cost two and a half to three hours during peak hours due to severe traffic jams in Ashram, Badarpur, Faridabad and Gurugram, can now be covered only during the trial. 45 to 50 minutes was successfully completed.
Developed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Union Road Transport Ministry under the ‘Urban Link Package’ of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway project, this corridor is going to prove to be a game-changer in reducing the pressure on the capital’s busiest roads. Trains will be able to exit Delhi directly through the elevated corridor without getting stuck at traditional bottlenecks like Ashram Chowk, Kalkaji, Okhla, Badarpur Border, and Ballabhgarh. After the successful trials, the safety audit and final finishing work is now in the final stages, after which it will be officially opened to the general public.
At present, if someone has to go towards Sohna, Palwal or Jaipur from the central and eastern parts of Delhi, then one has to pass through Ring Road, Mathura Road, Badarpur Flyover and Faridabad Bypass. Due to the presence of dozens of red lights, heavy commercial traffic and local markets on these routes, vehicles move at a crawl. It had become common for morning and evening office hours to take 2 to 3 hours.
The new corridor has been made completely ‘controlled-access’ and signal-free. In this, a wide elevated structure of 6 lanes and better service lanes have been prepared on the ground. The design speed has been kept at 100 km/hr. During the trial run, technical experts tested the speed, turning, entry and exit ramps and load capacity of the vehicles, in which no technical hitch was recorded. Due to absence of jams and red lights, there will be huge savings in fuel and there will be a significant reduction in pollution.
This modern expressway alignment starts from Sarai Kale Khan and DND Flyway Junction in Delhi. From here it proceeds parallel to the western bank of the Yamuna River and the Agra Canal:
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Delhi Section: Passing Sarai Kale Khan, Maharani Bagh, Okhla and Kalindi Kunj, this elevated route enters the limits of Faridabad.
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Haryana Section (Faridabad Bypass): It reaches directly near Ballabhgarh through the multi-lane elevated corridor built over the Faridabad Bypass.
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Sohna and Palwal spur (split): It connects in two parts near Mandakola and Sector 65. One spur directly connects to the Delhi-Mumbai main expressway towards KMP Expressway and Sohna, while the other spur gives seamless exit towards Palwal and Agra Highway (NH-19).
The biggest indirect benefit of the complete commissioning of this new highway will be to the local roads of South and East Delhi. Heavy vehicles, commercial trucks and long distance cars going from Noida, Ghaziabad, East Delhi and Central Delhi towards Faridabad, Gurugram, Sohna or Rajasthan will no longer enter Ring Road or Mathura Road. They will board this elevated route directly from Sarai Kale Khan and DND.
As a result, the pressure of local vehicles at Ashram Chowk, Sarai Kale Khan Bus Stand, Moolchand, Lajpat Nagar, Nehru Place and Badarpur Border will reduce by 30 to 40 percent. This will provide permanent relief to local commuters commuting to office daily from the severe traffic jams.
NHAI has equipped this entire expressway stretch with state-of-the-art Intelligent Transport System (ITS). High-resolution AI cameras, weather monitoring systems and automatic speed detection radars have been installed along the entire route to keep an eye on overspeeding and lane discipline violations.
Apart from this, open tolling and modern FASTag readers are being installed in place of traditional toll plazas for tolling, so that vehicles will not have to wait in queues to deduct toll. For quick assistance in case of emergency, emergency call boxes are being set up every 5 kilometers and 24×7 arrangements for ambulance and crane assistance are being made.
This historic reduction in travel time from Sarai Kale Khan to Sohna and Palwal will have a direct impact on the real estate and industrial sectors of Faridabad, Sohna and Greater Faridabad (Neharpar). Sohna and Palwal have now become just 45 minutes apart on the time scale, despite being geographically far away from Delhi.
This corridor will prove to be a lifeline for logistics hubs, warehousing parks and IT companies. Industrial organizations believe that this will reduce the cost of freight transportation and speed up the supply chain. Its formal launch for the general public is likely to be done in the coming few weeks, which will prove to be a new milestone in the infrastructure of NCR.