The much-awaited Delhi-Meerut Expressway was opened for commuters and general traffic on Thursday. Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari announced the opening of traffic on the 96-km state-of-the-art expressway and said the Government has fullfilled the promise of reducing travel time between Delhi and Meerut.

“Delhi-Meerut Expressway has now been completed and opened to traffic. We have fulfilled our promise of reducing travel time between Delhi-Meerut from 2.5 hours to 45 minutes,” Nitin Gadkari took to Twitter to announce.

During a review meeting of the expressway early this year, Gadkari had committed to complete the full stretch by the end of March 2021.

The 96-km-long 14-lane expressway will reduce travel time between Meerut and Delhi to 45 minutes. At present, commuters travel through NH 58 to reach Delhi and it takes over three hours to cover a distance of 70 km.

The expressway will also reduce the travel time of commuters from Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Haridwar and Dehradun to Delhi.

A portion of the Delhi- Meerut Expressway which was phase I of the four-phase project was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2018.

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Meerut just 45 mins away from Delhi as e-way opens

The NHAI has set speed limits for commuters using the expressway. In phase 1, which is in Delhi, the maximum permissible speed limit is 70 kmph. In the remaining three phases, all in Uttar Pradesh, the maximum permissible speed limit is 100 kmph.

The phase thrown opened for public on Thursday are the second and fourth phases of the Expressway. The first phase i.e. Akshardham to UP Gate of 14 kms, and 22-km-long phase 3 from Dasna to Hapur are already operational. The phase 2 of 19 kms links UP Gate and Dasna and phase 4 of 32 km link Dasna and Meerut.

The project has been developed at the cost of Rs 8,346 crore.

The expressway connecting the cities has 60 km of expressway drive and remaining national highway. Twenty-four small and big bridges, 10 flyovers, three railway bridges, 95 underpasses and several pedestrian bridges have been constructed on the expressway besides highway amenities.

More than 4,500 lights and cameras have been installed on the entire road.

Over 2.5 meters cycle corridor and 2 meters-wide footpath have been drawn alongside the roads on phase 1 and phase 2 of the expressway for the safety of the pedestrians and cyclists.

In order to make the corridor a smart expressway, weather, travel and other details about the expressway will be provided to the commuters during their transit.

The expressway will also be using the automatic number plate reader (ANPR) technology, with high definition high speed cameras to tax tolls without the need of the vehicles to stop, thus avoiding unnecessary traffic and saving fuel.

The expressway will also reduce the time to travel from the national Capital to Uttarakhand and much visited places like Haridwar and Dehradun.