The first phase of the much-awaited Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is about to be inaugurated. Built at a cost of ₹12,150 crore, the Delhi-Lalsot-Dausa section will be flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today.
The highlight of the 246-km stretch is that it will connect the national capital with the Pink City – Jaipur. With the construction of the expressway, the travel time will be reduced from five hours to three and a half hours.
As of now, people from the two cities, Delhi and Jaipur, are connected by National Highway (NH) 48 and the drive takes around four-five hours depending on the traffic conditions.
According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the Sohna-Dausa section of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway intersects the already developed Agra-Jaipur section of NH-11 near Dausa.
The expressway also promises to provide better connectivity from the national capital to other major states and their cities. The route will reportedly have over 40 interchanges, the major ones being Jaipur, Bhopal, Indore, Kota, Vadodara and Surat.
The expressway will serve 93 PM Gati Shakti economic nodes, 13 seaports, 8 major airports and 8 Multi-Modal Logistics Parks (MMLPs) as well as upcoming greenfield airports like Jewar Airport, Navi Mumbai Airport and JNPT Port. will provide.
Apart from reducing the travel time, the carriageway provides a lush green scenic drive with views of the mountain ranges at some places. As the route passes through Ranthambore National Park and Mukundra Hill Tiger Reserve, three animal overpasses and underpasses have been built to prevent disturbance to the animal habitat.
While construction of parts of the ambitious project is still underway, around 80 lakh tonnes of cement will be required to build the Delhi-Mumbai line. This is equivalent to making 350 Statue of Unity. Additionally, 1.2 million tonnes of steel would be required to build the stretch, which is equivalent to building 50 Howrah bridges.
Once completed, the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will be the biggest and longest road infrastructure project in the country, with a distance of 1386 kms connecting the national capital to the financial capital in just 12 hours.
key features
The expressway also has many facilities for the passengers. The expressway comes with a helipad, e-charging station, trauma center along with other essential services. Several food courts and other facilities are still under construction.
To monitor the movement of vehicles, it has been said to install cameras at a distance of 500 meters. State-of-the-art Automatic Traffic Management System has also been installed to ease the travel process.
futuristic vision
Between the carriageways is a 3-metre-wide dedicated corridor for laying optical fiber cables, pipelines and utility lines for solar power generation in preparation for future contingencies. This section can be used to expand the current 8 lanes to a 12-lane expressway.