The way ahead: NHAI to put four more expressways on the fast track

As the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) works to complete the marquee Delhi-Mumbai Expressway project, there are four more such high-speed highways lined up for execution by the Centre.
 
They are the Ahmedabad-Dholera, Delhi-Amritsar-Katra, Bengaluru-Chennai and Kanpur-Lucknow stretches, which would be taken up next.
 
Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari last week examined the progress of the 1,380 km long Delhi-Mumbai expressway that is expected to reduce travel time between the two cities to 12 hours.
 
Construction of the Kanpur-Lucknow expressway is expected to start from December this year, as nearly 70 per cent of the land acquisition is complete. It is also likely to be the country’s first digital highway, with construction equipment installed with sensors to track the progress of the project.
 
The 63-km long expressway is likely to reduce travel time between Lucknow and Kanpur by half and would be built at a cost of about Rs 4,700 crore.
 
Besides this stretch, the government envisages to build the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway to promote religious tourism. It would connect the two holy cities of Katra-Vaishno Devi and Amritsar, and reduce the distance between Delhi and Katra to 572 km from the current 727 km.
 
The expressway will also provide connectivity to important Sikh shrines at Dera Baba Nanak, Goindwal Sahib, Khadoor Sahib and Tarn Taran.
 
These four expressways — Ahmedabad-Dholera, Delhi-Amrit­sar-Katra, Bengaluru-Chennai and Kanpur-Lucknow — are targeted for completion by 2024-25.
 
The minister, last week, took stock of the work done on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway. The eight-lane expressway would cover Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, on the way to Mumbai. It is expected to reduce the travel time between Delhi and Mumbai to 12 hours, from 24 hours.
 
Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Union minister Rao Inderjit Singh were also present at the event.
 
The expressway is part of the first phase of the Bharatmala Pariyojana and is being developed at a cost of Rs 98,000 crore. With 1,380 km length, it would be the longest expressway in India.
 
The expressway would connect Delhi through the Delhi-Faridabad-Sohna section of the corridor along with a spur to Jewar Airport and Jawaharlal Nehru Port to Mumbai through a spur in Mumbai.

The expressway, which passes through the six states of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra will improve the connectivity to economic hubs like Jaipur, Udaipur, Bhopal, Indore, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Surat.
 
The government claims that besides reduction in travel time, the highway would also cut air pollution and traffic woes. This will generate annual fuel savings of more than 320 million litres and reduce CO2 emissions by 850 million kg. This is equivalent to the planting of 40 million trees.