The 19-km Guragon stretch of Dwarka expressway in Haryana will be fully operational by early 2023, as per senior officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Earlier, the Gurgaon section of the Dwarka expressway was planned to be operational by 2022 end.
The Dwarka expressway will be opened to the public in stages. Currently, some sections of the Dwarka expressway are in use by commuters. The next opening along the route will be of the 700-metre-long bridges on the Pataudi Chowk service road on both sides of the expressway to allow commuters to bypass the busy junction. The cloverleaf that links the expressway to the Delhi-Jaipur highway is expected to be ready by December 2022.
As per a senior NHAI official, the authority plans to open the entire expressway by January or February 2023. However, the expressway will be opened to commuters progressively in sections starting next week. The bridges at the Pataudi Chowk service road are nearly ready and will be opened in the first week of November 2022.
The road below the expressway up to Bajghera was opened in May 2021, thus allowing easy movement of commuters travelling from Delhi and Bijwasan. The cloverleaf near Kherki Daula toll plaza, which is under construction, will be ready by December 2022.
Dwarka expressway, also called as the Northern Peripheral Road or NH 248-BB, is a 29-km under-construction, eight-lane expressway. It was conceptualized as a northern ring road between the Shiv Murti on NH48 in Delhi and Kherki Daula in Gurgaon. A section of 18.9 km of the expressway will be in Gurgaon, while a 10.1-km section will be in Delhi.
The construction work on the Gurgaon section began in November 2019 with a completion deadline of 24 months. However, the work repeatedly faced delays, with officials blaming the suspension of construction due to delays in shifting utilities, land litigation, the COVID-19 pandemic, and construction bans due to increased pollution levels. The project was also delayed owing to suspension work for eight months after a section of the road near Daultabad Chowk collapsed in March last year.
Work on the Delhi section was started in September 2020 and is expected to be completed by mid-2023.
