Delhi-Doon e-way to be extended to Mussoorie: Gadkari

DEHRADUN: Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said the Delhi–Dehradun expressway will be extended to Mussoorie to ease congestion in the Uttarakhand capital.He said the 51 km, six-lane road from Saharanpur Bypass to Haridwar is slated for inauguration in June, adding that several major road projects in Uttarakhand are nearing completion.Gadkari said projects worth ₹1.3 lakh crore have been taken up in the state since the NDA came to office. Projects worth ₹25,000 crore have been completed, and those being built with ₹35,000 crore under execution and DPRs prepared for projects worth ₹80,000 crore. On the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra route, he said a 370-km road from Tanakpur to Pithoragarh and Lipulekh is under construction, with 200 km completed and the remaining stretch expected to be finished within a year.Gadkari said a landslide mitigation plan is being prepared in consultation with a Switzerland-based institute and local experts. He said ₹4,300 crore was approved for 296 such projects, while work on black spots was completed with an expenditure of ₹907 crore.“The Paonta Sahib-Dehradun four-lane road, built at a cost of Rs 1,650 crore, will be operational by next month. The four-lane green field bypass phase-1 in Haridwar, being constructed at a cost of Rs 1,600 crore, will be completed by Oct 2026,” said Gadkari, adding work on the Rs 1,100 crore Rishikesh bypass project will begin by Aug.The 21 km-long four-lane bypass in Rudrapur will be completed in Oct this year, and work on the 15 km-long four-lane bypass in Kashipur is expected to be completed in Dec 2026.The 12km-long Dehradun–Jhajhra Asharodi four-lane elevated road is expected to be completed by April next year, and the 20 km-long four-lane Bhaniyawala-Jollygrant-Rishikesh road will be completed by April 2028. A DPR is also being prepared for a Rs 800 crore two-lane bypass in Srinagar.Gadkari informed that a 640 km stretch of the Rs 12,000 crore 825 km-long Char Dham road project has been completed, and that work on the Rs 1,300 crore Rudraprayag-Gaurikund stretch will commence by Dec 2026.Ropeway projects are also being planned for Kedarnath and Hemkund Sahib.