Delhi-Dehradun corridor will slash travel time under three hours

After Delhi-Lucknow, Delhi-Agra, now travelling between Delhi-Dehradun will take just 2.5 hours once the proposed Delhi-Dehradun corridor starts functioning.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a statement that the Delhi-Saharanpur-Dehradun economic corridor, work on which is underway, will reduce the distance between the two cities from 235 kms to 210 kms.

"The 6.5 hours travel time will be cut down to just 2.5 hours, once the expressway is completed. This will be the country`s first highway where there will be a 12km long elevated corridor for wildlife protection. It has been decided to execute the project under EPC mode," it said.

The ministry said that the entire corridor is designed for driving with a minimum of 100 km per hour speed.

"Wayside amenities every 25-30 km have been provisioned for enhancing the road user experience. Closed toll mechanism would be adopted to enable pay toll only to the extent of highway use," the statement added.

The ministry further said that the development of this corridor is expected to boost the economy of the region being served by the highway, especially boosting Uttarakhand tourism.

For implementation, the entire length from Akshardham (starting point) to Dehradun will be divided into four sections. 

According to the ministry, section one is being developed to six lanes with six lanes service road being in built-up reach, with complete access control and is divided into two packages.

"The tendering process for these two packages has been completed. This section would start from Akshardham Temple near DME and pass through Geeta colony, Khajurikhas and Mandola. The highway also aims to decongest the North East Delhi and also enhance the development potential of Tronica city, Mandola Vihar Yojana of UP Government," it said.

The statement further added that section two is planned to have six lanes fully access controlled and the entire length is greenfield, passing through districts of Baghpat, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, and Saharanpur.

"The DPR is complete and the tendering process has been initiated in four packages. The land acquisition process is going on and the forest/environment clearance proposal has been applied. The target for project award is March 2021, subject to obtaining environment clearance and substantial land acquisition is in place," the ministry said.

It further added that section three will start from Saharanpur bypass and end at Ganeshpur.

Section four is a planned six-lane with complete access controlled.

"This section primarily passes through Reserve Forest in the State of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Out of 20 km, five km is brownfield expansion, and 15 km is realignment comprising elevated wildlife corridors (12 km) and approaches to tunnels (structure 340m). ROW is restricted to 25m in general due to Wildlife concerns. Forest and Wildlife clearances have been obtained. Target is to award the project by March 2021," the statement said.