Delhi-Meerut Expressway speed limit soon to be increased to 120/100 kmph

New Delhi: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) could soon facilitate the increase of speed limits on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway to up to 120/100 kmph, providing much relief to Delhi commuters travelling to Indirapuram, Greater Noida, Hindon and vice-versa. The NHAI is soon expected to write to the Delhi Police Commissioner with respect to this.

As of now, the boards on the expressway show a speed limit of 70 kmph for lightweight motor vehicles and 40 kmph for goods vehicles; with commuters often complaining that they are issued e-challans by the Delhi Traffic Police for driving above 60 kmph through the speed violation cameras along the expressway.

After such complaints from members of the public, the Kalyanpuri Circle Traffic Inspector had written to the NHAI in September, asking for speed limit signboards that designate a maximum speed limit of 60 kmph and also sent a reminder in a few days, as per an RTI reply from the NHAI.

With the penalty for overspeeding increased to Rs 5,000, as per the new changes in the Motor Vehicles Act, which were enforced from September 1; the NHAI replied to the traffic inspector's letter on September 13, upgrading the speed limit to 120/100 kmph.

According to R P Singh, General Manager (Tech)/Project Director at the NHAI Ghaziabad Project Implementation Unit (PIU) which looks after the expressway, a letter suggesting to upgrade the speed limits to 120/100 kmph for expressway portion and 70/50 kmph for the National Highway on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway would be sent to the Delhi Police Commissioner soon.

"Currently, we have placed signboards limiting the maximum speed to 70/40. Since the stretch, which is 8.72 km long 6-lane expressway/ 8-lane NH 24 from Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi to Ghazipur border has already been completed in June 2018, the speed should be upgraded to 120/100 kmph on the expressway and 70/50 kmph on the NH as per Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRT&H) guidelines", he said.

Previously, a letter to upgrade the speed on the expressway was sent to the Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) on September 13 by the NHAI, according to the RTI reply. In the letter, the NHAI said the Delhi-Meerut Expressway has been designed for a speed of 120/100 kmph as per the MoRT&H guidelines through a gazette notification dated April 6, 2018.

In the letter, the NHAI said that 2/3-wheelers/motorcycles/tractors/light commercial vehicles and other slow-moving vehicles, which are not permitted, are the main reasons for accidents on this section of the expressway.

It also requested that the Delhi Police deploy sufficient traffic police on the expressway so that the road users follow the traffic rules for which the expressway has been designed, according to the letter written by Singh.

The 82-kilometre long expressway connects Delhi with Meerut in western Uttar Pradesh. A sum of Rs 8,346 crore is likely to be spent on the project. The ambitious project will help in decongesting the National Capital Region (NCR) and is expected to bring a significant reduction in pollution levels.