Delhi-Dehradun Expressway: Work Going On Very Fast, Will Ensure Completion By January 2024, Says Uttarakhand CM Dhami

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has said that the work on the under-construction Delhi-Dehradun expressway is going on at a rapid pace and that the project is expected to be completed by January next year.

Dhami on Sunday (26 March) inspected the construction of the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway.

He also took stock of the 340-meter-long Daat Kali tunnel and elevated section on the expressway from the officials of the National Highways Authority of India.

Dhami instructed the executing agencies to finish the work on the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway in Uttarakhand on time while ensuring quality.

He said that NHAI will receive the support required from the Uttarakhand govt to expedite the work related to the expressway in the state.

Permission has also been given to carry out work at night as well on the E-way.

"This highway will help in reducing the travel time from Delhi to Dehradun to just 2-2.5 hours. In the coming time, tourists will easily be able to come from Delhi. The work is going on very fast and we [will] ensure that it is completed by January 2024," Dhami was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Dhami added that the speed at which road connectivity is increasing in the Uttarakhand, it will give a major boost to economic activities in the state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for the 210 km Delhi-Dehradun Expressway in December 2021.

The project is estimated to be built at a cost of around Rs 12,300 crore.

The 210 km expressway begins from the Eastern Peripheral Expressway Junction of NCR Delhi and ends near Dehradun.

The Delhi-Dehradun Expressway will have seven major interchanges for Haridwar, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Yamunanagar, Baghpat, Meerut and Baraut.

Drastic Reduction In Travel Time

The Delhi-Dehradun expressway will reduce the distance between the two cities from 235 km to 210 km and compress the travel time from 6.5 hours to just 2.5 hours once completed.

The expressway will have 25 kilometres of the elevated road - 6 km in the open, 14 km in tunnels. The entire corridor is designed for driving with a minimum 100 Kmph speed though the six-lane highway will pass through pristine forest areas.

Connecting Haridwar With Delhi

Besides reducing the travel time to the capital of Uttarakhand, the expressway would also improve connectivity to the Hindu spiritual centre, Haridwar, as a greenfield alignment project from Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor, connecting Halgoa, Saharanpur to Bhadrabad, Haridwar will be constructed at the cost of over Rs 2,000 crore.

An Eco-friendly Expressway

The upcoming expressway will have Asia’s longest wildlife elevated corridor of 12 km for unrestricted wildlife movement. Also, the 340 m long tunnel near Dat Kaali temple, Dehradun, will help reduce the impact on wildlife. Further, multiple animal passes have been provided in the Ganeshpur-Dehradun section for avoiding animal-vehicle collisions.

Additionally, the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway will also have arrangements for rainwater harvesting at intervals of 500 m and over 400 water recharge points.

Enhanced User Comfort

The economic corridor is planned with wayside amenities every 25-30 km for enhancing the road user experience. And closed toll mechanisms would be adopted to enable pay toll only to the extent of highway use.