The country’s first eight-lane tunnel in Kota, Rajasthan, has been completed and will be operational next month. It is part of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway. Its opening will reduce the travel time from Gurugram to Vadodara from 20-22 hours to 10-12 hours.
Add informalnewz.com as a Preferred Source
New Expressway: After a long wait, the construction of the tunnel in Kota, Rajasthan, has finally been completed. Preparations have begun for its opening next month.
This is the country’s first eight-lane tunnel, and once it is operational, it will take only 10 to 12 hours to travel from Gurugram to Vadodara, instead of 20 to 22 hours.
The 1,380-kilometer-long Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is being constructed to improve connectivity between the national capital, Delhi, and the country’s financial capital, Mumbai.
Eight-Lane Access-Controlled Green Field Expressway
This eight-lane, access-controlled green field expressway is being constructed in several sections. The expressway begins at Alipur village near Sohna. Construction of the expressway before Kota and beyond Kota to Vadodara was completed several months ago.
Kota is home to the Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve, which is home to a large number of wildlife. A 4.9-kilometer-long tunnel was built in this area. Great care was taken during construction to ensure wildlife was not disturbed. This contributed to the longer construction time.
Relief from the winding road
The tunnel has been constructed in such a way that wildlife is unaware of vehicles passing underneath. Preparations are underway to open it next month at any cost.
It is reported that the tunnel will be operational after a thorough inspection. A formal inauguration will take place later. Once the tunnel is operational, approximately 25 kilometers of winding roads near Kota will be eliminated.
The project to Mumbai may be completed by June.
Construction of some sections between Vadodara and Mumbai remains pending. It is expected that the remaining sections will be completed by June this year. This will allow travel from Gurugram to Mumbai in 12 hours instead of 24. It is worth noting that vehicles on this expressway are traveling at speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour.
There have been complaints of vehicles traveling at speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour. Currently, an average of 25,000 to 30,000 vehicles are traveling on the expressway daily.
After the project is completed, the number of vehicles is expected to increase significantly.
Will Pass Through These Cities
This expressway, in addition to Delhi and Gurugram, passes near cities such as Alwar, Jaipur, Dausa, Kishangarh, Ajmer, Ranthambore, Sawai Madhopur, Lalsot, Kota, Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Bhopal, Ujjain, Ratlam, Indore, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Surat.
It is expected that this will accelerate the development of Delhi and Mumbai, as well as Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat.
Increasing lanes is easy as traffic pressure increases.
PK Kaushik, Project Director of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), says that as traffic volume increases, the expressway can easily be expanded to 12 lanes due to the 21-meter-wide median.
Lane expansion on both sides is easily possible. The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is one of the best expressways in the country. It has been designed very well. Attention has also been paid to surrounding amenities so that people do not face any inconvenience.
Once the tunnel is operational, the journey to Vadodara can be completed in 10 to 12 hours.
