India's Delhi-Dehradun Economic corridor will cut travel time to just 2.5 hours

New Delhi, India (Urban Transport News): The Delhi-Saharanpur-Dehradun Economic corridor, work on which is underway, will reduce the distance between the two cities from 235 kms to 210 kms, and travel time from 6.5 hours as of now, to just 2.5 hours, once it is completed.

This corridor will be the country’s first highway where there will be a 12-kilometer long elevated corridor for the protection of wildlife. It has been decided to execute the project under EPC mode. The entire corridor is designed for driving with a minimum of 100 Kmph speed.

Wayside amenities every 25-30 km have been provisioned for enhancing the road user experience. A closed toll mechanism would be adopted to enable pay toll only to the extent of highway used.

The development of this corridor is expected to boost the economy of the region being served by the highway, especially boosting the tourism in Uttarakhand.

For implementation, the entire length from Akshardham (starting point) to Dehradun will be divided into 4 sections.

Section 1 is being developed to 6 lanes with 6L service road being in built-up reach, with complete access control and is divided into 2 packages. Pkg 1 falls in the Delhi portion in 14.75 km and out of this  6.4 km is elevated. Pkg 2 falls in UP in the length of 16.85 km and out of this 11.2 km is elevated. The tendering process for these two packages has been completed.  This section would start from Akshardham Temple near DME and pass through Geeta colony, Khajurikhas, Mandola, etc. This highway also aims to decongest the North East Delhi and also enhance the development potential of Tronica city, Mandola Vihar Yojana of UP Government.

Section 2 is planned 6 lanes fully access controlled and the entire length is Greenfield, passing through districts of Baghpat, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, and Saharanpur. The DPR is complete and the tendering process has been initiated in four packages. The land acquisition process is going on and Forest/Environment clearance proposal has been applied. The target for the project award is March 2021, subject to obtaining environment clearance and substantial land acquisition is in place.

Section 3 starts from Saharanpur bypass and ends at Ganeshpur. The entire length has recently completed to 4 lanes by NHAI. Necessary underpasses and service roads are being planned to make it fully access controlled to achieve a minimum of 100 kmph speed.

Section 4 is a planned 6 lanes with complete access controlled. This section primarily passes through Reserve Forest in the State of Uttar Pradesh & Uttarakhand. Out of 20 km, 5 km is brownfield expansion, and 15 km is realignment comprising of elevated wildlife corridor(12 km) and approaches to the tunnel (structure 340m). ROW is restricted to 25m in general due to Wildlife concerns. Forest and Wildlife clearances have been obtained. The bids in 3 packages have been received and under evaluation. Target is to award the project by March 2021.