From hour-long jams to 15-min drives: 3 NH corridors in Delhi to turn signal-free with flyovers; Kalindi Kunj interchange planned

NEW DELHI: Centre will make three major national highway stretches passing through Delhi largely signal free to reduce congestion and travel time, the road transport ministry informed the Lok Sabha on Thursday.

While the NH stretches from Ashram to Badarpur, Mehrauli to Gurgaon and Punjabi Bagh to Tikri Border will be mostly signal free by building flyovers, an interchange will be built at Kalindi Kunj intersections for seamless traffic flow.

Responding to a supplementary question in the LS, minister of state in road transport ministry and East Delhi MP, Harsh Malhotra said that National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is preparing the detailed project reports for the three NH stretches. "Three flyovers will be built on Ashram-Badarpur stretch to make it mostly signal free. Currently, because of congestion, it takes around one to one-and-a-half hours. This travel time will be reduced. Similarly, travel time between Mehrauli and Gurgaon will be reduced to barely 15 minutes instead of the current one hour after this stretch becomes signal free," Malhotra said in response to a question from South Delhi MP Ram Vir Singh Bidhuri.

The minister also said that the Punjabi Bagh to Tikri Border stretch of the NH passing through Delhi will be made largely signal free by building flyovers at major junctions. He added this will bring down the travel time to barely 30 minutes compared to the current one-and-half hours.

"Similarly, we will make the intersection at Kalindi Kunj signal free by building an interchange similar to the one at Dhaula Kuan. Six roads intersect at Kalindi Kunj. We are hopeful of the DND-Faridabad stretch of Delhi-Mumbai expressway becoming operational in next six months," Malhotra said.

Giving another update on the NH projects in NCR, the minister said that Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor will be made fully operational in the next 8-10 days. The corridor will bring down travel time from Delhi to the hill capital to less than two-and-half hours.