Delhi to Meerut Expressway opens for public, Anand Mahindra reacts on the 45-minute travel

The Delhi-Meerut Expressway is now open to the public with the travel time reduced from 2.5 hours to just 45 minutes. According to the reports, the project cost around Rs. 8346 crore.

Business tycoon Anand Mahindra took to his Twitter handle to praise the efforts gone behind this project and remembered how he used to take travel between these two cities as a kid.

"2.5 hours to 45 minutes?? I remember doing this trip as a kid. Just a small dusty road then. Tells me how much transportation inefficiency we’ve been enduring so far. These highways will not just add percentage points to our GDP growth but also knit India together. Bravo!," Mahindra responded to Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari's tweet.

The project will help in decongesting National Capital Region and bring significant reduction in pollution level, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a statement.

2.5 hours to 45 minutes?? I remember doing this trip as a kid. Just a small dusty road then. Tells me how much transportation inefficiency we’ve been enduring so far. These highways will not just add percentage points to our GDP growth but also knit India together. Bravo! https://t.co/Zbbrf34HeE

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra)

Delhi Meerut Expressway has now been completed & opened to traffic. We have full filled our promise of reducing travel time between Delhi - Meerut from 2.5 hours to 45 minutes. #PragatiKaHighway pic.twitter.com/OgFyOJ5QLs

— Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari)

The first phase of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway cost Rs 842 crore on building the 96-km stretch of 14-lane highway, according to an advertisement released by the government on the project. The expressway, which will have dedicated bicycle tracks on the nearly 28-km stretch between Delhi and Dasna, will cut travel time between Delhi and Meerut to 45 minutes from two-and-half hours now. The total length of the project is 82 km, of which the first 27.74 km will be 14-laned, while the rest will be a 6-lane expressway

The expressway will do away with 31 traffic signals on the Delhi-Meerut road, the busiest highway in the region, and make it signal-free.

(With PTI inputs)