PM Modi inaugurates Delhi-Meerut Expressway: All you need to know

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated country's first smart and green highway - the Eastern Peripheral Expressway or EPE- built at a cost of Rs 11,000 crore. The Prime Minister had laid the foundation stone for the project on November 5, 2015. The 135-km long  EPE runs from Kondli - Ghaziabad- Palwal.
 
The Expressway, which has been completed in a record time of about 500 days, has several unique features and is India's first highway to be lit by solar power besides provisions of rain water harvesting on every 500 metres on both sides and would showcase 36 national monuments and 40 fountains.
 
According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, this is the first national highway in the country with 14 lanes, and has several features that would help reduce pollution. The EPE aims to provide faster and safer connectivity between Delhi and Meerut and beyond this, with Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.    
 
The Expressway will reduce the time to travel from Delhi to Meerut to 45 minutes from the present about 4-5 hours. 

The project is being built in four segments -- Nizamuddin Bridge to UP Border, UP Border to Dasna, Dasna to Hapur and Hapur to Meerut.

 
KEY POINTS TO KNOW ABOUT DELHI-MEERUT EXPRESSWAY
 

• The Expressway has a closed tolling system in which toll will be collected only for the distance travelled and not for the entire length. Toll plazas will be equipped with Electronic Toll Collection system for faster toll collection and uninterrupted travel experience.
  
• Weigh-in-Motion equipment have been installed at all 30 entry points of the Expressway to stop entry of over-loaded vehicles.
• EPE has toll plaza 170 feet high, with 154 feet wing on either side. Under the toll plaza there is a digital art gallery with holographic models of major structures and making of the EPE.
• The Expressway is equipped with smart and intelligent highway traffic management system and video incident detection system.
• The project has consumed 11 lakh tonnes of cement, 1 lakh tonnes of steel, 3.6 crore cum earthwork and 1.2 crore cum fly-ash. It generated employment opportunities of about 50 lakh man-days and 9,375 manpower was deployed here.
• The six-lane expressway provides entry and exit designated interchanges only and has 406 structures of which 4 are major bridges, 46 minor bridges, 3 flyovers, 7 inter-changes, 221 underpasses and 8 road over bridges.
• The amenities include retail fuel outlets, rest rooms, motels, restaurants, shops etc. Some of the monuments replicas pertain to Ashoka Lion, Ashoka Chakra, Konark Temple, Jalianwala Bagh, Gateway of India, Qutab Minar, Char Minar, Lal Quila, Kirti Stambh, India Gate, Hawa Mahal and Gujarat Carving.
• Delhi-Meerut Expressway is the first highway to use solar power on the entire length of 135 km. There are eight solar power plants on this Expressway, with a capacity of 4000 KW (4 megawatt) for lighting of the underpasses and running solar pumps for watering plants.
• The expressway will do away with 31 traffic signals on the Delhi-Meerut road, the busiest highway in the region, and make it signal free.