Six-lane e-way to connect UP, Haryana on fast track after 8 yrs

GREATER NOIDA: Nearly eight years after it was planned, a six-lane ring road — the 135-km-long Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) — aimed at providing signal-free connectivity between various cities of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, bypassing the national capital, seems to be finally on track.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has recently invited request for qualification (RFQ) for the EPE project, envisaged to provide a smooth ride between the cities of Ghaziabad, Greater Noida, Sonipat, Faridabad and Palwal, as well as to de-congest Delhi roads.
Estimated to cost over Rs 4,500 crore, the high-speed expressway is likely to be completed within three years from commencement of construction. And, once completed, it is likely to benefit UP and Haryana as it would open up hinterlands for developing commercial areas and townships along the expressway.
To hasten the project, NHAI has split the EPE project into six packages. NHAI has floated six separate bids of shorter stretches for the EPE. The RFQ has been invited on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode. This is the second time the EPE has come up for bidding. The bids will be finalized on December 4, 2014.
The expressway, which is likely to ease the traffic congestion in the NCR region by connecting Sonipat, Ghaziabad and Palwal, will also be connected to Yamuna Expressway between Delhi and Agra. The 135-km long e-way is planned to bypass Delhi on eastern side and form half a ring around the national capital, while the other half of the ring road will be formed by the Western Peripheral Expressway.
In fact, it will form a third Ring Road around Delhi, along with Western Peripheral Expressway, which is the Kundli- Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway.
The EPE will have interchanges on intersections with NH-1, NH-2, NH-24, NH-58, NH-91 and Yamuna Expressway. On NH-1, it will connect near Kundli, on Nh-2 near Palwal, on NH-24 near Dasna and on NH-58 near Muradnagar.
In Greater Noida, the EPE will connect near the Yamuna Expressway and near the integrated township of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor while on NH-91 (Grand Trunk road) it will connect near Beel Akbarpur. Noida, Greater Noida, Dadri, GT Road, Ghaziabad, Dholana, Hapur will be decongested once the e-way is in place. Expected vehicular movement on the e-way is about one lakh per day by 2021.