Smooth, safer road: All you need to know about Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of multiple projects in Uttarakhand worth around ₹18,000 crore on December 4, including the Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor. The highway projects aim to improve road infrastructure, making travel smooth and safer, and also to increase tourism in the region.

The Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor that will be built at a cost of around ₹8,300 crore, will significantly reduce the travel time from Delhi to Dehradun from current six hours to around 2.5 hours. The corridor will have seven major interchanges for connectivity to Haridwar, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Yamunagar, Baghpat, Meerut and Baraut.

The Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor will also have Asia's largest wildlife elevated corridor spanning 12 km for unrestricted movement of wildlife. The 340-metre-long tunnel located near Dat Kaali temple in Dehradun will further help reduce impact on wildlife. Further, there are multiple animal passes in the Ganeshpur-Dehradun section for preventing animal-vehicle collisions.

The proposed corridor will have arrangements for rainwater harvesting as well, at intervals of 500 metre, and over 400 water recharge points. Further, the government will construct a greenfield alignment project from Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor, connecting Halgoa, Saharanpur to Bhadrabad, Haridwar, at a cost of over ₹2,000 crore. This passage will reduce travel time from Delhi to Haridwar.

Apart from these, the Haridwar Ring Road Project to be built from Manoharpur to Kangri at a cost of over ₹1,600 crore, will reduce traffic congestion in Haridwar city, especially during peak tourist season. Next, the Dehradun-Paonta Sahib, Himachal Pradesh road project that will cost around ₹1,700 crore, will reduce travel time between the two places. Then the Nazimabad-Kotdwar road widening project will help reduce travel time to Lansdowne.

The eleven development projects will also include construction of a bridge across the River Ganga next to the Laksham Jhula, which has now been closed. The bridge will have provision of a glass deck for people walking, and will also allow light weight vehicles to move across.

PM Modi will also lay the foundation stone for the Child Friendly City Project, Dehradun to make the city roads safer for their travel. He will also lay foundation stone for projects related to development of water supply, road and drainage system in Dehradun at a cost of over ₹700 crore.

(with inputs from PTI)