January 15, 2024: The Delhi portion of the 27.6-kilometre Dwarka Expressway is nearly 80% complete and some stretches of the facility may be open by February 2024, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials said, as cited in media reports. The entire Dwarka Expressway will be operational by August 2024.
The Dwarka expressway project, developed at a cost of Rs 9,000 crore, will connect Dwarka in Delhi and Kherki Daula in Gurgaon. The project is being built in four packages — the first two are in Delhi (Shiv Murti to Bijwasan and Bijwasan to Haryana border), while packages three and four are in Gurugram (Haryana border to Basai, and Basai to Cloverleaf near Kherki Daula).
Last week, the Gurgaon administration announced that packages three and four — the Gurugram leg of the expressway — are likely to open for traffic by the end of February 2024.
As cited in a Hindustan Times report, a senior official of the highway contractor has said that a major eight-lane tunnel starting from Samalkha (along NH-48) that reaches Mahipalpur has been completed. All civil work is completed, and electrical and mechanical work is going on in this tunnel. In package two, two major flyovers and an interchange near Bharthal have been completed. A Senior NHAI official has said that the flyover and other interconnecting structures and tunnels at Urban Extension Road (UER) 2 and Bharthal are near completion. He further added that the stack interchange along NH-48 and a tunnel between the Indira Gandhi International Airport and Samalkha are close to completion.
Authorities plan to revamp key roads linking Dwarka Expressway to NH-8
The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) plans to redevelop two arterial stretches that link National Highway-8 (NH-8) and Dwarka Expressway to ease traffic movement and decongest Old Gurgaon. As per a TOI report, officials said they completed a preliminary study on the two stretches – IFFCO Chowk to Mahavir Chowk (4.8 km) and Old Railway Road to Dwarka Expressway via Basai (6.1 km).
The authority will identify road intersections and segments, where lanes will be widened to remove bottlenecks and reduce travel time between the two highways. Further, the authority has planned to develop flyovers or underpasses in areas such as Basai Road, Old Railway Road and Sukhrail for smooth vehicular movement.
Moreover, the GMDA has planned to make provisions for on-street parking, construct footpaths and install utility ducts to prevent unnecessary digging.
Once the project comprising flyovers or underpasses is completed, it will boost connectivity to the Dwarka Expressway from NH-8, providing an alternate route to those travelling to and from Jhajjar to the city. Currently, several commuters travel through the Basai flyover towards Hero Honda Chowk.
See also: Dwarka Expressway route, construction details and status
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