New Delhi: The Dwarka Expressway, which is also known as the Northern Peripheral Road and is expected to ease traffic congestion on Delhi-Gurugram Expressway, will be operational in 2023, said Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday. Taking to Twitter, Gadkari said Dwarka Expressway, which is being developed as the first elevated urban expressway in India, will reduce pressure on the Delhi-Gurugram Expressway and arterial roads that experience heavy traffic, primarily from the commuters of West Delhi.

Delhi-Gurugram Expressway is a part of the Delhi-Jaipur-Ahmedabad-Mumbai arm of Golden Quadrilateral.The road transport and highways minister said 50-60 percent traffic on National Highway-8 will be diverted onto the new expressway, thereby improving traffic movement towards Sohna Road and Golf Course Road.

Once operational in 2023, it shall immensely help reduce air pollution in Delhi-NCR as well, he added.

The minister said the expressway is a 16-lane access-controlled highway with the provision of a minimum 3-lane service road on both sides.

Gadkari said the 29-km expressway connecting Dwarka in Delhi to Gurugram in Haryana is being developed at a total cost of Rs 9,000 crore. About 19-km of the expressway stretch falls in Haryana while the remaining 10-km is in Delhi.

Gadkari said Dwarka Expressway will have 4 multi-level interchanges (tunnel/underpasses, at-grade road, elevated flyover and flyover above flyover) at major junctions including the construction of the longest (3.6 km) and widest (8-lane) urban road tunnel in India.

The expressway begins from Shiv-Murti on NH-8 (Delhi-Gurugram Expressway) and ends near Kherki Daula Toll Plaza, through Dwarka Sector 21, Gurugram border and Basai.

Gadkari said Dwarka Expressway will have a massive 12,000 trees transplanted.

The expressway is estimated to consume 2 lakh MT of steel (30 times of steel used in the Eiffel Tower) and 20 lakh cubic metres of concrete (6 times of concrete used in Burj Khalifa).

Once the expressway is completed, Gadkari said it would provide direct access to the upcoming India International Convention Centre (IICC) in sector 25 of Dwarka and will also provide alternate connectivity to IGI Airport through the shallow tunnel.

He said Advanced Traffic Management System, Toll Management System, CCTV cameras, surveillance etc. would be part and parcel of this upcoming world-class corridor.