Union Minister Nitin Gadkari stated that after the 1,380- kilometre – long Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is built, travel time between the two metros will be cut to 12.5 hours. A road trip between India’s political and financial capitals currently takes around 22:30 hours.
Gadkari will inspect the development of the expressway, which will connect Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Delhi.
According to the Road Transport and Highways Ministry, the expressway would connect national capital metropolitan areas via the corridor’s Delhi-Faridabad-Sohna segment, as well as the planned Noida International Airport in Jewar and Mumbai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Port. The highway is expected to be finished by March 2023.
“Being developed for 98,000 crores, the 1,380 kilometres long Delhi Mumbai expressway will be the longest expressway in India. It will enhance connectivity between Delhi and Mumbai. The expressway will connect the urban centers of Delhi through the Delhi-Faridabad-Sohna section of the corridor along with a spur to Jewar Airport and Jawaharlal Nehru Port to Mumbai through a spur in Mumbai,” as per the official release by the ministry.
The following are the main elements of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway (DME):
- The expressway would cut the distance between Delhi and Mumbai by 130 kilometres.
- There will be three animals and five overpasses. A total length of 7 kilometres will be set aside for unhindered animal migration.
- The DME will save more than 320 million litres of gasoline each year. As a result, CO2 emissions will be reduced by 850 million kg.
- The DME will include two eight-lane tunnels, one through the Mukundra sanctuary and the other through the Matheran eco-sensitive zone.
- DME has employed thousands of qualified civil engineers and generated more than 50 lakh man-days of labour.