NOIDA: Widening of the NH-24 between the Delhi border and Dasna into a six-lane corridor is finally going to start this month after the Noida Authority and National Highways Authority of India met on Tuesday and gave approval to the project. While tenders for the proposed project will be released later this month, the widening is estimated to cost Rs 150 crore.
The broadening of the 21km stretch from UP Gate to Dasna, which is used by over 2 lakh vehicles on a weekday, will bring relief to commuters who often get caught in long jams. “Once this project is complete, it will improve connectivity between Delhi and parts of Ghaziabad and Noida,” said Pramanshu Kumar, Additional CEO, Noida Authority. “The expansion of NH-24 is of utmost importance. Given the traffic load on the stretch, the widening work will now be fast tracked to avoid any further delay,” Kumar said.
After the widening, an additional lane of 3.5m width will be available on either side of the carriageway. The ACEO said that five underpasses would be constructed at regular intervals so that traffic between Noida and Indirapuram would be smooth without going to NH-24.
Presently, the four-lane road from Ghaziabad border to Dasna is one of the most congested highway corridors in the country. Once completed, this stretch would become almost signal-free. Unlike the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway, this stretch will not be a toll road. Sources said this decision was taken considering that a large section of the traffic using this stretch is local. The traffic on this road is expected to grow in view of increased occupancy in residential areas along NH-24, including Indirapuram and Crossings Republik, the two big sub-cities of Ghaziabad.
Though the plan for the widening of the stretch was conceived almost six years ago, somehow it did not take off. Due to traffic congestion on UP border-Dasna stretch, the exercise to develop it as a six-lane route was re-started three years back.
The NH-24 starts from Nizamuddin from Delhi and ends at Lucknow via Hapur, Moradabad, Bareilly and Sitapur. The stretch between Nizamuddin Bridge and Indirapuram is one of the busiest during peak hours. About two years ago, the daily traffic movement on this stretch was nearly 1.4 lakh passenger car units (PCUs). A traffic survey by Rites in 2008 showed that vehicular growth on this stretch had increased by almost 200% more than the highway’s carrying capacity.
In April earlier this year, the highway ministry had proposed to carry out the work of the widening on contract and a tender was also floated, but the plan was scrapped later. NHAI had then proposed to widen this portion as part of the Delhi-Meerut expressway project on build, operate and transfer (BOT-toll) mode. In that case, private developers would have financed the entire project.
