NHAI comes up with plan to decongest NCR

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has come up with a proposal for decongesting the National Capital Region (NCR). The plan entails constructing link roads, flyovers and underpasses.

The NHAI has also created a separate cell to work on decongesting Delhi and the NCR, which comprises 13 districts of Haryana, 7 in Uttar Pradesh and two in Rajasthan as well as boats of over 88.5 lakh vehicles.

It has uploaded the proposal for decongesting NCR on its website and urged architects, town-planners and citizens to send in their suggestions and comments by April 30.

“The NHAI has prepared a decongestion proposal for Delhi. It recognises the urgency of decongesting Delhi and the critical need to optimise limited capital resources, while giving citizens maximum connectivity and comfort,” it said in a statement.

NCR is India’s largest and world’s second largest urban cluster, housing a population of over 54 million. Spread over an area of 46,208 sq km, of which the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi covers around 1,483 sq km and Central NCR (CNCR) 2,000 sq km.

The NHAI has proposed to provide efficient connectivity through radial routes of the Outer Ring Road with Eastern Peripheral Express (EPE) and Western Peripheral Expressway (WPE), which will decongest Delhi.

It proposes to connect Azadpur to Sonipat, Kashmiri Gate to Baghpat, Nizamuddin Bridge to Dasna, Lajpat Nagar to Kherli Kankar in Haryana and Bhikaji Cama Place to NBRC Gate on NH-8 in Haryana among others for radial connectivity of Outer Ring Road to EPE and WPE.

It also proposed to decongest the settlement areas through elevated corridor or by rerouting the networks by a green field alignment.

Besides, the NHAI says new links to NH-8 will further decongest the Delhi-Gurgaon road, Palam area, Aya Nagar, Vasant Kunj and MG (Mehrauli-Gurgaon) Road.

In order to decongest NH-8/Gurgaon, the NHAI proposes a link to connect Vasant Kunj to Aya Nagar on the Gurgaon-Mehrauli road (NH-236), Sikandarpur/Guru Dronacharya Metro station to NSG Gate on NH-8, among others.

To decongest the Delhi-Gurgaon section of NH-8, the NHAI has proposed the construction of a flyover and underpass at Hero Honda Chowk on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway as well as constructing underpasses, overpasses, etc., for improvement of three junctions at IFFCO Chowk, Signature Chowk and Rajiv Chowk.

Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that Delhi’s pollution has been catching all attention and the government will solve it in two years with thrust on improving road designs, decongesting traffic and promoting eco-friendly fuel. In November 2015, PM Narendra Modi laid the foundation of three National Highway projects – Eastern Peripheral Highway, Western Peripheral Highway and eight-laning of National Highway between Mukarba Chowk in Delhi and Panipat in Haryana.

The projects, with a combined length of 341 km will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 10,166 crore and will run through Haryana, UP and Delhi.