Gurgaon: Four years after construction began, a 12km portion of the sohna Elevated Road, Connecting badshapur with sohna, was opened to commuters this monthm NHAI officials said on Friday. There maining part, a 9Km-section to connect badshapur with Rajiv Chowk on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway and give rraffic to and from the expressway a signal-free ride till sohna, will be opened in june, they said.
"We have already completed 100% of the work on package 2 of the elevated road and opened ot to commuters from April 1. We have also started collecting toll for the stretch." said a senior NHAI official. NHAI is responsible for the project. The 12Km stretch cost authorities Rs607 crore to build. Construction for package 1, the 9Km route is 85% complete and "we expect ot to be ready by june", the official cited above said.
The RS 1300 crore-project was conceptuallised to reduce the current three-hour travel time between Gurgaon and Alwar to less than two hours. It will bypass several busy and congested junctions, including the vatika Chowk in Gurgaon. The elevated road will also be a key link to the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway corridor that will connect India's two largest urban centres via Haryana, Rajastha, Madya pradesh and gujarat. Touted as the "world's longest highway", the 1380Km-long expressway is expected to be ready by March 2023.
Urban pklanning experts told TOI that the project will help long destance traffic, but it may not give relief to local and regional commuters because of few exit/entry points on the road. Apart from its start (Rajiv Chowk) and end (Sohna) points, the elevated road so far has just one exit/entry route in between - at the toll plaza near Ghamroj village in Gurgaon district.
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