Ghaziabad Development Authority, or GDA, opened the link road connecting NH 24 and NH 58 for a trial run on November 1. Speaking to City Spidey, Chakresh Jain, GDA's superintendent engineer, said the 3.5-km-long road connecting Meerut Crossing to NH 24 is expected to be opened to commuters by next week.
The road starts from near Pratap Vihar water treatment plant and ends at Meerut tiraha (T-intersection) on NH 58. It will mainly benefit commuters travelling from NH 58 to Greater Noida, Noida, NH 24 and Indirapuram. Work on the project was started in 2012 but was delayed due to the construction of a 55-m-long overbridge by the Railways connecting two sections of the link road.
Jain said the total cost incurred for the link road was Rs 160 crore. Of this, Rs 60 crore was borne by the Central Government, and the remaining by GDA.
"The road was constructed under UIDSSMT [Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme For Small And Medium Towns], a scheme of JNNURM [Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission] of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation," added Jain.
Other than reducing travel time between Ghaziabad and Noida from over an hour to just a few minutes, the link road will also decongest traffic in the city.
Speaking to City Spidey, Rajesh Kumar, Ghaziabad's SP traffic, said the link road would help decongest primetime traffic snarls at spots such as Hindon Barrage and Mohan Nagar. He also said it would provide easy passage to commuters heading towards Agra, Noida and areas near NH 24. "Only the lanes towards NH 24 have been opened for now, and those towards NH 58 will be opened to the public in a few days," added Kumar.
Speaking to City Spidey, DK Maurya, an Indirapuram resident, lauded GDA's efforts. "Commuters headed towards NH 58 can reach their destination without getting stuck in city traffic. It will be convenient for daily commuters, as it will help relieve traffic congestion and save a lot of time," he added.
