Ghaziabad: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to construct an arm of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway that will link Modinagar in Ghaziabad with NH-235 in Meerut. The connector loop of the country’s widest expressway will eventually be extended up to the Ganga Expressway, India’s longest that is under construction.
The announcement comes days after all four phases of the DME were opened for vehicular traffic. Officials are calling the 14km offshoot the 5th phase of the DME project. It will branch out from the Dasna to Meerut section of the expressway at Zainuddinpur village near Modinagar. Once ready, the expressway will give travellers a seamless access to eastern UP districts through the Ganga Expressway.
“The connector will be 14km long and will link DME with NH-235. Since it is an extension of the DME, we are calling it phase 5 of the project,” said Mudit Garg, the project director of NHAI. “The proposed connector will start at Zainuddinpur village near Modinagar and terminate at Jahidpur in Meerut, which falls along NH-235. It will then be extended to the Ganga Expressway through another 16km offshoot,” he added.
The cost of the connector is estimated to be Rs 524 crore and tenders for the project are likely to be floated soon. Officials said it would be a four-lane stretch. “The bidder is likely to be selected in two months. After the work is handed over to the company, it should take two years to complete the stretch,” said Garg.
The connector will not only give direct access to Bulandshahr, but also provide a link to the eastern UP districts. “It is the Ganga Expressway that will facilitate the linking of DME with eastern UP. The expressway passes through Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Unao, Rai Bareilly, Pratapgarh and Prayagraj,” Garg added.
Apart from the connector, NHAI is working on a second plan to directly link DME with the Ganga Expressway and save a few kilometres. Officials, however, clarified that the plan was in its nascent stage.
“The 5th phase of the DME will branch out from Modinagar and span 14km up to Meerut. It will then extend up to Bijauli and meet the Ganga Expressway, which is a few kilometres more,” the official said.
“So it has been proposed that after travelling 3.5km on the phase 5 connector, a stretch will branch out and directly lead to the Ganga Expressway. This will help commuters avoid travelling an extra 16km,” the NHAI project director said. “The plan is, however, at a nascent stage. As of now, we are focusing on DME phase 5,” he added.