Date:24/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/24/stories/2008012457610100.htm

Front Page

After many ifs and buts, highway to Gurgaon is finally on track

Staff Reporter

Journey time hopefully will be cut down now from hours to minutes

Rs.710-crore project a bustling reality at last
It will benefit thousands day in and day out

PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA

FINALLY IN BUSINESS: Bird’s-eye view of the new Delhi-Gurgaon flyover soon after it was thrown open to traffic on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI: The frightfully chaotic journey from Delhi to the bustling new-age township of Gurgaon next door has just become faster and smoother with the much awaited 27.7-km-long Delhi-Gurgaon access-controlled highway finally becoming fully operational on Wednesday.

The last flyover of the much talked about Rs.710-crore project between Rao Tula Ram Marg and Palam Junction was thrown open by Union Road Transport Minister T. R. Baalu, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and her Haryana counterpart Bhupinder Singh Hooda at a crowded ceremony on Wednesday evening.

“Unofficial inauguration”

The flyover had been ready for quite some time and had even been “unofficially inaugurated” by some angry local residents who said they were fed up with the long wait for a VIP to come and cut the ribbon.

Finally now with the opening of the 2 km flyover, the journey time between Delhi and Gurgaon has been reduced significantly to just about 25 minutes for the nearly 1.5 lakh vehicles that use it daily.

BOT basis

The project is also important considering it is Delhi’s only link to Indira Gandhi International Airport.

Implemented on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis with a negative grant, the facility will be maintained by the concessionaire for 20 years that includes the construction period.

The user fee will be collected at three toll plaza locations with discounted rates for local personal traffic and local commercial traffic.

As part of the project service roads have also been constructed to cater to local traffic without interfering with the long-distance traffic.

Pedestrian subways

For the safety of pedestrians, four pedestrian subways and eight steel foot-over bridges have been planned. These foot-over bridges would be located near D S O I Gate and Dhaula Kuan in Delhi and Udyog Vihar, IFFCO Chowk, Hero Honda Chowk, Khandsa Village and Narsinghpur Village in Gurgaon.

Though the project was initially scheduled for completion in July 2005, it got delayed by two and a half years because of various reasons. Finally, additional works worth Rs.155 crore were sanctioned for completing it.

The completion of the project that includes nine flyovers, eight and six-lane roads, service roads, four pedestrian underpasses and two foot-over bridges would hopefully provide much-needed relief to thousands of commuters day in and day out.