Economic corridor to cut down travel time between Delhi-Dehradun by 4 hrs

People travelling between Delhi and Dehradun are soon going to reach there destinations faster as the Delhi-Saharanpur-Dehradun Economic corridor becomes operational. The corridor will reduce the distance between the two cities from 235 kilometres to 210 kilometres. 

The new highway will cut down the travel time from 6.5 hours as of now, to just 2.5 hours as the corridor is designed for driving with a minimum 100 Kmph speed, the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways said in a statement. 

"The development of this corridor is expected to boost the economy of the region being served by the highway, especially boosting the tourism in Uttarakhand," it added. 

The Delhi-Saharanpur-Dehradun Economic corridor will be India's first highway where there will be a 12-kilometer long elevated corridor for protection of wildlife, the ministry claimed adding that it will execute the project under EPC mode. 

According to the Ministry, the highway project is being developed between Delhi's Akshardham and Dehradun in four sections. 

Section 1 will be 6 lanes highway divided into tqo packages. While package 1 falls in Delhi, of the 14.75 km long stretch,  6.4 km will be elevated, in package 2 that falls in UP of the 16.85 km, over 11 km will be elevated. The tendering process for these two packages have been completed, the ministry added. This section would start from Akshardham Temple and aims to decongest the North East Delhi roads and also enhance the development potential of Tronica city, Mandola Vihar Yojana of UP Government.

The Section 2 is planned 6 lane fully access controlled highway which will be Greenfield, passing through districts of Baghpat, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur. The DPR for this section has been completed and tendering process has been initiated in four packages. The ministry has set March 2021 for awarding the project.  Meanwhile, section 3 starts from Saharanpur bypass and ends at Ganeshpur. The entire length has recently completed to four lanes by NHAI. Necessary underpasses and service road are being planned to make it fully access controlled to achieve minimum 100 kmph speed.

ection 4 primarily passes through Reserve Forest in the State of Uttar Pradesh & Uttarakhand. Out of 20 km, 5 km will be brownfield expansion, and a 15 km realignment comprising of elevated wildlife corridor and approaches to tunnel. 

The bids in 3 packages have been received and under evaluation.