PM Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway on April 14. The most special feature of this is that there will be no toll for the first 18 kilometers. About 135 kilometers (64%) of the 212-kilometer-long expressway passes through UP. This is why it is as beneficial for Uttarakhand as it is for UP.
Built at a cost of 12 thousand crores, the expressway has been completed in about 4 years. Interchanges have been made at necessary places. Where there are forests, the entire section has been elevated. This means wild animals below and speeding vehicles above.
Asia’s Largest Wildlife Corridor
Currently, people use National Highway-58 to travel from Delhi to Dehradun. This route goes from Delhi through Ghaziabad, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Roorkee, Haridwar to reach Dehradun. There are about 10 points on the highway where traffic jams are inevitable.
This journey takes about 6 to 7 hours. Considering all these difficulties, in February 2020, a decision was made to build the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway. But due to the forests on the route, opposition to the project began. Later, a solution to that was also found.
On December 4, 2021, PM Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the expressway. At that time, PM Modi said – this expressway will be evidence of our development along with environmental protection. It will have an industrial corridor on one side. At the same time, it will also become Asia’s largest wildlife corridor. It will make people’s lives easier as well as help wild animals move safely. The estimated cost at that time was ₹11,868 crore, and it was expected to be completed by December 2024.
No toll for the first 18 kilometers
The beginning of this 6-lane expressway starts from Akshardham in Delhi. There was already a highway here, which was redeveloped. Here, the expressway has a total of 12 lanes. It includes a 6-lane expressway and a 6-lane service road.
To ensure that local traffic from Delhi-NCR does not increase congestion on the expressway, a 6-lane service road has been built alongside the expressway for the first 32 kilometers. In Delhi, this expressway is about 15 kilometers long.
A 6.4-kilometer section from Geeta Colony to Khajuri Khas is elevated. The expressway enters UP near Loni. Up to this point (total 18 km), the expressway is toll-free. Beyond this, there is an interchange at Mandola. Here, the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway is connected to the Eastern Peripheral Expressway.