Meerut expressway to connect Kalindi Kunj bypass to Faridabad

To provide smooth connectivity between National Highway-9 (Delhi-Meerut Expressway) and Faridabad in Haryana, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is preparing a plan to ease congestion on Ring Road near Sarai Kale Khan.

The decision was taken after NHAI took over the Kalindi Kunj bypass project from the Delhi government’s Public Works Department (PWD) last year.

To start work on Kalindi Kunj project, the ministry of road transport and highways had notified the stretch between NH-9 near Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi and Kail Gaon, Ballabgarh and Faridabad in Haryana as National Highway-148NA on January 29, 2019.

The Kalindi Kunj bypass project, conceived in 2000, is aimed at providing an alternative route between Delhi and Ballabhgarh, and ease congestion on Mathura Road.

“With this notification, the road stretch on the Ring Road is now part of the national highway. We are preparing a detailed plan so that Faridabad-bound traffic coming from Ghaziabad and Meerut can bypass the Delhi traffic and doesn’t get stuck on the Ring Road,” said a senior NHAI official.

The widening of NH-9 (earlier called NH-24), inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year, has led to increase in traffic congestion on the Ring Road near Sarai Kale Khan. NHAI officials say that during peak hours there is a traffic tailback till NH-9 due to the traffic bottleneck at Sarai Kale Khan.

A senior NHAI official said south Delhi-bound traffic slows down due to continuous pedestrian movement at Sarai Kale Khan. This results in tailback till the NH-24 T-point near Millennium Indraprastha Park.

A senior NHAI official part of the the Delhi-Meerut expressway project said, “High-speed traffic from NH-24 slows down due to continuous pedestrian movement at the ISBT. The purpose of widening of the highway is defeated if high-speed vehicles coming from NH-24 get struck on Ring Road. We had been asking PWD to make arrangements for smooth traffic movement.”

To address the problem, Delhi PWD had proposed a two-lane flyover, parallel to the existing flyover at Inter State Bus Terminal at Sarai Kale Khan. PWD officials say the project has been approved by Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning and Engineering) Centre (UTTIPEC).

But with the Ring Road stretch being declared as part of the NH-148NA, PWD officials said, it is likely to be handed over to NHAI. To ensure smooth traffic flow between NH-9 and Faridabad, NHAI is preparing a detailed plan by integrating all the proposed road infrastructure projects of Delhi PWD.

According to a senior NHAI official, efforts are being made to integrate the Ashram flyover extension project—Delhi government has approved a project to extend Ashram flyover till Delhi Noida Direct flyway—with the Kalindi Kunj bypass project.

“We are working with Delhi PWD to integrate their projects, including Ashram flyover extension project, with our plan to ease traffic congestion on the Ring Road and provide seamless access to Faridabad-bound traffic coming from Delhi-Meerut expressway. The plan will be ready by the end of this month,” said a senior NHAI official aware of the development.

Transport planning experts say that the decision to declare the Ring Road stretch as national highway will help in ease traffic movement. “Joining the two traffic nodes will help. The existing Ring Road stretch near sarai Kale Khan can’t take the increase in traffic load due to NH-9. There is a need to augment the capacity of the Ring Road. Once the Kalindi Kunj project is functional, it will ease traffic congestion on Mathura Road till Badarpur,” said Sewa Ram, professor of transport planning, School of Planning and Architecture.