Soon, a new Delhi-Gurgaon link could axe travel time by 30 minutes
Currently, it takes a commuter over an hour to go from the Capital to Gurgaon or vice versa via the usual routes. With this proposed link, commuters can cover the 30-km journey faster as travel time will be cut to 25-30 minutes, said officials.
The project is part of two proposals to decongest the Capital — especially Lutyens' area and Central Delhi.
The second proposal, a key project under discussion, officials said, is an elevated corridor or tunnel connecting the termination point of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway to the proposed elevated corridor from AIIMS to the Mahipalpur Bypass.
The two proposals were taken up at a high-level meeting chaired by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari with Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and senior officials in June, where the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was directed to come up with a plan to comprehensively address congestion in these two areas.
The central government had earlier proposed a 20-km-long elevated corridor from AIIMS to the Mahipalpur Bypass, further extending into the Gurgaon-Faridabad Road. This, too, is expected to act as a parallel route to the NH-48 to decongest the Mehrauli-Gurgaon and Ring Road stretches.
'The current plan involves an elevated corridor from AIIMS to Mahipalpur… The Minister expressed concerns that this alone will not fully resolve traffic congestion in the New Delhi Municipal Council area and Central Delhi,' said officials present at the meeting.
Currently, the Delhi-Meerut Expressway and Delhi-Dehradun Expressway terminate near Sarai Kale Khan on the Ring Road. Soon, the DND-Sohna (Jewar) link of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is also set to open.
With these three key expressways converging in the area, it is expected that the traffic volume will increase significantly. As a result, additional traffic is likely to spill over into Lutyens' Delhi and Central Delhi.
To address the issue, Gadkari directed the NHAI to explore the feasibility of the two projects (Delhi-Meerut Expressway to AIIMS-Mahipalpur corridor and Gyarah Murti or Talkatora to Gurgaon).
'The Minister has directed that these corridors be incorporated into the bids for the elevated corridor from AIIMS to Mahipalpur Bypass,' the minutes of the meeting stated.
The AIIMS-Mahipalpur Bypass corridor project is estimated to cost Rs 5,000 crore.
It will start from AIIMS and connect to Nelson Mandela Marg in Vasant Kunj via Ring Road. At Nelson Mandela Marg, the Centre is planning to construct a 5-km-long tunnel, which will connect to the IGI Airport and Dwarka Expressway.
'This corridor will be merged via a tunnel, and another corridor will be constructed towards Gurgaon and Faridabad Road,' said a senior NHAI official.
'The elevated corridor from AIIMS to Nelson Mandela Marg, further connecting to Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road and Gurgaon-Faridabad Road, will act as a parallel corridor between Delhi and Gurgaon,' the official said.
Bids have been invited for preparing the Detailed Project Report (DPR), they added.
Urban decongestion policy in the works
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is also in the process of formulating an urban decongestion policy aimed at supporting the redevelopment of state roads, officials said.
According to officials, under the policy, central funding will be provided for major infrastructure projects aimed at easing congestion, improving inter-city connectivity — particularly at city borders — and reducing travel time.
A senior official said the policy was also discussed in the meeting. '… The proposal would be examined upon finalisation of these policies,' stated the minutes.
The meeting also addressed several other key issues, including traffic bottlenecks at Delhi's border entry points due to MCD toll plazas, and the status of ongoing and future projects aimed at easing congestion across the Delhi-NCR.
Officials also said CM Gupta requested Rs 1,500 crore from the Central Road Infrastructure Fund (CRIF) for the development of road infrastructure in the city.
Further, discussions were held on large-scale infrastructure projects worth over Rs 63,000 crore that have been completed, said officials. Balance projects worth Rs 34,589 crore are ongoing and would be completed this year, said officials, adding that Rs 23,850 crore worth of projects have been proposed to decongest the city.
These projects are expected to significantly decongest the Capital, enhance connectivity between outer areas, New Delhi, and the NCR.
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