Nitin Gadkari promises to widen NH-24 into a 14-lane highway by 2015-end

NEW DELHI: Road transport minister Nitin Gadkari today had a first hand experience of the traffic gridlock in NH-24 that connects Delhi with Ghaziabad and Noida, something that thousands of commuters face everyday. The minister promised to roll out the widening of this stretch up to Dasna into a 14-lane highway by the end of this year to decongest the corridor.

Gadkari visited Indian Academy of Highway Engineers ( IAHE) to attend a conference on new and alternative technologies for road construction. The minister said he took this stretch of NH-24 for the first time and personally experienced the pain that commuters face on this corridor. "There is a proposal to widen this road to 14 lanes and NHAI has prepared it. We will take it up as a part of Delhi-Meerut Expressway package," he added.

Road secretary Vijay Chhibber said the bids for widening this 20km stretch between Delhi and Dasna will be out in the next few months. "There will be tolled lanes for traffic that's going nonstop and commuters who are ready to pay for the smooth ride. Local traffic won't have to pay toll. We have to hold two-three more rounds of discussion before starting the bidding process," he said.

Sources said technical discussions were needed on issues of widening the stretch near Commonwealth Games Village where a flyover has been built. There is also a need to see whether the toll lanes can be built underground at Akshardham flyover.

While the present government seems serious on undertaking the widening work, in the past five years several proposals have been floated and none of them could be transformed into reality. In 2010, the road transport ministry had even invited and received bids to widen the Delhi-Dasna stretch to six lanes. But the plan was scrapped later in 2011. Since then the ministry and NHAI have been working out the new plan.

"The cost of construction would be less since cement companies have offered to supply their produce at a substantially low price. Concrete road won't need repair for years and hence the life cycle cost of the project will be less in comparison to the conventional bituminous road," said an official.

Gadkari also asked the highway engineers and private developers to come out with new technology and material that would reduce project cost and make them financially viable. He directed his ministry to encourage innovation and research by their own engineers.