Dwarka Expressway Stretch in Gurugram Expected to Open in December

The 19 kilometers long stretch of the Dwarka Expressway in Gurugram from Kherki Daula to Bajghera is expected to be opened to commuters by the end of the year, with officials from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) revealing recently that December 2022 is the latest deadline for the Gurugram portion of the project.

The 10 km-long stretch of the expressway in Delhi on which work began after nearly a year of construction on the Gurugram stretch is expected to take longer to complete. 

A senior NHAI official who did not want to be named said – “Work is underway in full swing, and we are on track to meet the latest December deadline for the Gurugram portion of the Dwarka Expressway. We are hoping to open the stretch to commuters by the end of the year.” 

“However, the work on the 10.1 km stretch in Delhi started later and will take longer. So, the entire expressway cannot be opened at once, but the Haryana stretch will be, and commuters will get some relief.” added the official.

Earlier, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, while visiting Gurugram in September last year, said that the expressway would be opened to commuters this year.

 Residents, however, have received news of this latest deadline with alot of skepticism, pointing out that it is one among many that have been set for the project since work commenced.

“It would be great if NHAI completed the project by the set deadline. However, most commuters & residents know better than to get their hopes up. Many deadlines have been set in the past, all of which NHAI missed for some reason or another. Who is to say the same will not happen again?” asked Trisha Singh, a resident of Sector 89. 

Nirmal Kumar, a resident of Gurgaon Sector 102, said, “It would be great if the expressway on the Gurugram side is thrown open by the end of the year. However, while this may ease local traffic movement, inter-city traffic movement will become smoother only when the entire expressway is open. Without that, the impact of the expressway will not be there, so I hope that we see the entire stretch, not just the Gurugram section, open soon.” 

Announced in 2007, the Rs 9,000 crore Dwarka Expressway project would be a northern ring road running between Shiv Murti on National Highway 48 (NH48) in Delhi & Kherki Daula, providing an alternate route to commuters traveling between Gurugram and Delhi.

The 29-kilometer-long road was conceptualized as a stretch to facilitate easy travel for commuters and reduce the load on existing routes between the two cities. Although work on the Gurugram portion of the project had started in November 2019, construction of the stretch in Delhi began in September the following year.

The work on the NH stretch in Gurugram, with the original deadline of 24 months, was delayed due to compensation disputes over land acquisition matters, litigation, pandemic induced lockdowns, and multiple bans on construction activities to curb pollution in the winter. 

What’s More?

Work had also been suspended for nearly eight months last year following the collapse of a portion of an elevated road near Daultabad Chowk that was under construction as part of the expressway. After that, work on the main carriageway and the entire stretch in Gurugram had been put on hold, which finally resumed in November.

Construction has picked up some pace now, with the NHAI commencing work on a cloverleaf, another part of the project, last month. It is expected to take around six months to complete. With a circumference of more than two kilometers, its four loops will allow seamless travel towards critical stretches such as Delhi-Gurugram Expressway, Southern Peripheral Road, Central Peripheral Road, and the under-construction Delhi-Mumbai Expressway.

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