Travel time between Haridwar and Delhi may get reduced by an hour if the Centre’s plan to build the six-lane access-controlled Expressway between the Capital and Meerut is implemented.
To ease congestion on Delhi-Haridwar stretch, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) plans to convert the road into a six-lane National Highway (NH-58) from Uttar Pradesh (UP) Gate to Partapur section (6.80 km to 52.528 km). Besides constructing flyovers at Muradnagar and Modinagar to ease traffic congestion, the ministry is also working on the options of creating a bypass link.
Stretches near trijunction between NH 58 and Ghaziabad city, and Modinagar and Muradnagar get jam-packed during peak hours. However, traffic jam near Meerut morh may remain a hurdle. The project is being proposed to be developed under Delhi-Meerut Expressway project. “There is heavy traffic movement on National Highway No 58 particularly at Muradnagar and Modinagar, between Ghaziabad and Meerut. These are major headache for long-distance commuters to Haridwar, Rishikesh and Dehradun,” an official said.
“A distance which could be covered in maximum four hours takes between five to six hours or even more due to congestion,” he said. According to officials in the ministry, Meerut to Muzzaffarnagar stretch of National Highway No 58 has already been developed on Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT-Toll) basis from two-lane to four-lane, including bypasses at Khatauli and Muzaffarnagar.
“The work for Muzaffarnagar-Haridwar stretch has also been awarded on BOT (Toll) basis. It is scheduled to be completed by February, 2013,” said the official. “The progress of work is adversely affected due to delay in pre-construction activities like land acquisition, tree-cutting, besides inadequate mobilisation by the Concessionaire,” said the official.
The ministry has issued notices to the Concessionaire for expediting the work. Meanwhile, the ministry is also pressing other concessionaires to maintain the Meerut-Muzaffarnagar-Haridwar section to ensure smooth traffic flow.