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NH 48 connects Delhi, Gurgaon and Dwarka. (Photo: Archive)
A 2.5-km tunnel on the Delhi stretch of Dwarka Expressway, connecting Dwarka to the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, is set to open to traffic on Thursday. Initially, the tunnel will operate daily from 12 pm to 3 pm on a trial basis to manage peak afternoon traffic, the Gurgaon traffic police said.
Two-wheelers, three-wheelers, water and gas tankers, tractors with trolleys, and slow-moving vehicles are barred from the tunnel during this phase. Once fully open, the stretch is expected to ease travel to the Delhi Airport from Gurgaon, Manesar, Sohna, and Jaipur.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), along with Delhi and Gurgaon
traffic police, had conducted a joint inspection on Tuesday, approving the
limited-time opening. A spokesperson for the Gurgaon traffic police stated
that authorities will monitor traffic flow during this trial to decide on
full-day access in the next phase.
The Dwarka Expressway, spanning from Kherki Daula toll plaza to Shiv Murti in Mahipalpur, has been partially operational in Gurgaon since last year. The Delhi section, including the tunnel, is now complete. The Rs 9,000-crore project, covering 18.9 km in Gurgaon and 10.1 km in Delhi, includes 23 km of elevated roads and a 4-km tunnel linking Shiv Murti to IGI airport.
Once fully operational, the tunnel is expected to cut travel time between Manesar and Palam Airport to 30 minutes, easing traffic between Dhaula Kuan and the Sirhaul (Southwest Delhi to Haryana) border.
Commuters travelling between Delhi, Gurgaon and Dwarka via National Highway 48 (NH 48), however, will have to brace for route diversions over the next few weeks.
The 2.5-km tunnel will be open for 3 hours daily
Traffic diversions
According to the Delhi Traffic Police, the usual routes to enter and exit the highway have been closed as ongoing construction work has led to massive traffic snarls. To ensure a smoother commute, new entry and exit points to service roads alongside NH 48 have been created, some of which are:
– Entry to NH 48 via Shankar Vihar has been stopped and diverted to the parallel service road.
– Similarly, entry to NH 48 from near Hotel Lohias has been shifted 200 metres to the service road.
– Two new exits have been created, opening just before Shiv Murti and the Bureau of Police Research and Development office in Mahipalpur, to give commuters early exits from the expressway to decongest the road ahead, a senior traffic police officer said.
“Tunnels between Dwarka and the IGI airport and Dwarka to NH 48 will likely start functioning in June. A lot of traffic that comes from the airport onto the expressway to go to Dwarka would be diverted via the tunnel. Once the other tunnels open later in the year, the old routes would start operating again,” a traffic police officer said earlier.
