Delhi to Gurgaon in just 15-20 minutes!

New Delhi, Apr 28 (UNI) Come January 1, 2007 and one could cover the journey between Delhi and Gurgaon in less than half an hour, compared to the more than an hour at present spent by motorists commuting between the two cities.

For most motorists driving between Delhi and Gurgaon, the traffic bottlenecks, witnessed in the stretches from Rao Tula Ram junction to Palam and from Mahipalpur to the IGI airport, could soon be a thing of the past with the Delhi-Gurgaon Access Controlled Highway, all set to provide signal-free and fast travel from Dhaula Kuan to the outskirts of Gurgaon.

The much-delayed Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway a keyproject by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will, from January 1 next year, connect the Capital with Gurgaon through a series of nine flyovers, which will facilitate uninterrupted journey between the two cities without any traffic signals at crossings.

''The entire stretch of nine flyovers is expected to be operational by January 1 next year, resulting in reduction of travel time between Delhi and Gurgaon from 60 minutes at present to about 15-20 minutes,'' Chief project director R P Indoria told newspersons here.

The first of these, the 964-metre Rajokri flyover, was opened, on a trial run, to vehicular traffic last week.

''The Delhi-Gurgaon Access Controlled Highway is designed to provide for controlled access to vehicles on the flyovers to facilitate uninterrupted travel on the entire stretch for the motorists using it,''Mr Indoria said.

Further, the Expressway, the entry to which will be after payment of certain amount as toll, also provides for signal-free and easy access to and from Indira Gandhi International and domestic airport.

The Expressway will have a total length of 27.7 Km - 22.33 km of it being eight -laned while 5.37 km will be six laned.

The design of the expressway also provides for 46.8 Km of service roads which will cater to local traffic without interfering with long distance through traffic while providing access to local business establishments.

A unique feature of the Highway will be toll Plazas equipped with state-of-the-art tolling equipment which will ensure that the vehicle stopping time at the toll counters will be less than ten seconds.

Other features of the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway will be round-the-clock patrolling by Highway patrolling staff at several points to ensure smooth flow of traffic and assist in providing facilities like first aid in case of a minor accident, ambulance service for severe cases and taxi service in case of breakdown of vehicles.

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