The 82-km phase 2 and 4 of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME) will open for the public on April 1. With this inauguration, the expressway will help cut travel time between Delhi and Meerut from two hours to about 50 minutes.
Additionally, it will also help people travelling from Delhi to Meerut, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, as well as people of Uttarakhand. The DME will help reduce travel time between Delhi and Dehradun to just two hours from the present 6-7 hours.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, the highway authority will not charge any toll at least for a week after the opening of the expressway. Mudit Garg, NHAI project director told the daily that they are looking for a more efficient tolling system, wherein they are testing linking of automatic number plate reader (ANPR) to the FASTag system.
It must be noted that in the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, the officials have installed an ANPR system of high definition, high-speed cameras that are meant to catch traffic violations. And FASTag is a system that would enable digital transactions of toll.
The DME comprises four phases, of which 14-km phase 1 (Akshardham to UP Gate) and 22-km phase 3 (Dasna to Hapur) are already operational. Phase 2 stretches for a distance of 19 km and links UP Gate and Dasna. On the other hand, phase 4 is 32 km long and links Dasna and Meerut. The NHAI has installed about 5,000 streetlights on all four phases.
The DME will provide 14 lanes connectivity--three expressway lanes on each side while the four outer lanes on each side will be highway lanes.
The speed limit on the expressway has been restricted to 70 kmph in Delhi (Package 1), 100 kmph in Ghaziabad (Package 2) and 120 kmph between Dasna and Meerut (Package 4). Autos and bikes are not allowed on the expressway's six express lanes, according to the NHAI.