Delhi-Meerut, Eastern Peripheral Expressways open

The Prime Minister inaugurated two new expressways in the National Capital Region recently. The two roads are Phase 1 of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway and Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE).

The Delhi-Meerut route is a 14-lane expressway from Nizamuddin Bridge right up to the Uttar Pradesh border. This Rs 841-crore phase has a six-lane expressway with two eight-lane highways, a 2.5m-wide cycle track, and a 1.5m-wide footpath. There will also be vertical gardens with solar panels for lighting and drip water irrigation feature, as well as replicas of monuments like the Qutub Minar and Ashoka Stambh. The highways feature safety and monitoring systems including an Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS) and CCTVs.

The first phase will see travel time cut from 45min to just 8min but once completed, it is expected to drop travel time between Delhi and Meerut to 45min, it currently takes 4-5 hours.

The Eastern Peripheral Expressway’s goal is to curb traffic and pollution in Delhi. It will redirect two lakh vehicles around the national capital every day. The project costs Rs 11,000 crore and the 135km-stretch is touted to be able to bring Delhi’s pollution down by 27 percent. There are provisions for rainwater harvesting every 500m and the EPE also gets a smart and intelligent highway traffic management system, video incident detection system, and an Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system.