The Delhi-Meerut section of National Highway 24, which has lucknow as its ultimate destination, seems to have imported the Capital’s major stress point — traffic snarls. Waiting for long hours on the stretch between Delhi and Dasna is commonplace and undermines the very idea of road connectivity being an asset. Traffic congestion on this stretch is due to various factors such as narrow roads, ongoing expressway construction work and congested intersections at several points.
But first, some perspective. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has divided the Delhi-Meerut Expressway project into five phases. The first phase is from Nizamuddin Bridge to the Uttar Pradesh(UP) border, the second from UP Gate (Ghaziabad) to Dasna, the third from Dasna to Meerut, the fourth from Dasna to Hapur and, the fifth is a connector from Hapur to Meerut. The estimated cost of the project between Nizamuddin Bridge and the UP border is Rs 841 crore and was to be completed by March-end but that deadline has been missed. Yet, NHAI claims that because the first phase of the project is “almost complete”, its focus is on the second phase of the project, which is considered the most crucial. The reason for that is not far to seek — the heavy volume of traffic coupled with unending snarls en route to Dasna we encountered flagged several bottlenecks.
The first among them is the shifting of major power distribution/transmission lines and that of 13 kilometres of the Ganga water pipeline that supplies water from the Upper Ganga Canal to the treatment plants at Pratap Vihar. Completing the task of shifting both the power lines and the even more technically challenging water pipeline is a major challenge for engineers working on the second phase of the project but it does beg the question: Shouldn’t the alignment process have factored this inIJ Even if there was no option, the timeline for completion should certainly have been more realistic. The second phase of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME) project, from UP Gate to Dasna, has a deadline of May 2020 for completion. We would be guilty of giving readers false hope if we said we were confident it would be completed in time or the traffic snarls on this stretch would ease before that date at the very earliest.
To be fair, the NHAI has planned three lanes on each side of the signal-free expressway and four additional lanes on each side of the highway under the second phase of the DME project to ease congestion. But work is at a pretty early stage with only clearing of the area having started till now.
Meanwhile, there are issues of roadside vendors. Budhwa, a 55-year-old who sells tobacco on the highway near Dasna, is adamant that he will resist as long as possible attempts remove his makeshift stall for smooth construction of the expressway. “They are widening the road and once it is completed trucks will not stop and traffic will move freely. I will have to look for other work to sustain my family,” he said.
Others who run makeshift roadside stalls echoed Budhwa's views.Such 'bottlenecks' too are a part and parcel of the Indian reality and have to be addressed for all to become stakeholders in the drive for a connected India.
Dharampal Gujjar, a truck driver whom we met on our way back to Delhi,represents the other side of the argument: “If traffic jamsdo not clog up the highway I can complete the Meerut-Delhirun in under an hour.” He left no doubt that it was consummation he devoutly wished.
There is a slew of beatification works on the 1.5 km stretch between Nizamuddin Bridge and Commonwealth Sports Village flyover as a part of NH-24 expansion of the DMEproject. landscaping along the length of the Expressway will also control dust pollution as the grass and plants prevent dustbowls being formed. Four new bridges are also to be constructed adjacent to the existing one across the Hindon river near Indirapuram on NH-24 for seamless connectivity; the NHAI proposes to construct two bridges on either side of the existing bridge, which too will be strengthened, to bear the heavy traffic load.
From Dasna on towards Meerut, work on the Expressway while ongoing, is still at the stage of agricultural land being acquired. Albeit, some parcels of land have been successfully acquired and clearing has begun. “We are waiting for farmers for harvest their crops so that we may proceed,” said a site engineer of a private company engaged in construction work near Hapur. The 87-kilometer project along with the nine-kilometer connector will have a six-lane expressway and four-plus-four lane highway, service roads, cycle tracks, flyovers, elevated sections, major and minor bridges, railway over-bridges and vehicular and pedestrian underpasses. The alignment of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway starts from NizammudinBridge, Delhi, and continues on existing the NH-24 upto Dasna. From Dasna, there will be completely new alignment up to Meerut.
But realistically, our ride made clear, it would be foolhardy to expect any major relief in terms of traffic flow and logjams before mid-2020 at the earliest.