After the 246-km Delhi-Dausa-Lalsot section of the Delhi-Mumbai expressway was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, February 12, reducing the travel time from the national capital to Jaipur from five hours to about three hours, now all eyes are on the 109 km long Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressway.
The nation by January 2024 looks to complete India‘s first high-speed multimodal corridor that connects the country’s road and rail networks.
The first greenfield smart city in India is now being created in Dholera. The new smart city has been developed such that it will be connected by all forms of transportation, including highways, the metro, ports, and airports.
A quiet hamlet in Gujarat until recently, Dholera has already attracted the interest of investors and is now a member of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC).
An additional brand-new, cutting-edge airport is being built 80 kilometers from Ahmedabad. This would reduce traffic at Ahmedabad Airport, which is currently crowded.
Another attraction in addition to the Ahmedabad Dholera Expressway is the almost 1220 km long Amritsar-Jamanagar Expressway.
To be the second longest motorway in the nation, the Amritsar-Jamanagar Expressway once completed will link refineries at Amritsar, Bhatinda, Bikaner, Sangaria, Sanchore, Samakhiyali, and Jamnagar, as well as major economic centers in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat.
“Construction work for this is going on as per plan. A stretch will be ready for use as well” a person familiar with the project told India Narrative.
The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is the biggest project undertaken by the National Highway Authority of India, connecting the national capital with the country’s financial capital.
Cutting down the travel time by half the expressway will revolutionize travel between the two cities. The reduction in distance and travel time from over 24 hours to just 12 hours will result in annual fuel savings of more than 320 million liters and reduce CO2 emissions by 850 million kg, the Ministry estimates.
Moreover, the 1380 km long, eight-lane expressway is also set to benefit various cities along the way, cutting down travel times between them as well.
Being constructed with an initial budget of Rs 98,000 crore, the expressway, Depending on the volume of traffic it sees, will most likely be expanded to a 12-lane expressway in the future.
Over two million trees and shrubs are also planned to be planted along the highway.
