For travellers driving from Delhi to Uttarakhand, Meerut is a common stop on the way. And the good news is that the time taken to travel from Delhi to the iconic industrial hub has been reduced to under a third. The long-due launch of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway&mdashwhich will cut the previous two-and-a-half-hour travel time to flat 45 minutes&mdashtook place earlier this week. Guess Meerut residents can finally go ab Dilli dur nahin (Delhi's no longer that far away).
The expressway was made operational on April 1, the decision announced on Twitter by Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways. "Delhi Meerut Expressway has now been completed & opened to traffic. We have fulfilled our promise of reducing travel time between Delhi - Meerut from 2.5 hours to 45 minutes," Gadkari tweeted.
Commuters take NH 58 at present to travel to Delhi from Meerut, sometimes even spending three hours to do so. Standing at 96-kilometres-long and with 14 lanes, the expressway will transform the way commuting is done between the two cities and also help cut travel time for road trips that this stretch is a part of. Travellers from Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Haridwar and Dehradun to Delhi are also set to benefit from the expressway.
However, be mindful of the speed limits the NHAI has fixed a speed limit of 70km/h for Phase 1 of the expressway (Akshardham to UP Gate). The other phases are all in UP and have a speed limit of 100km/h.