Plugging The Final Gap On Delhi-Meerut Expressway, NHAI Opens Chipiyana Rail Overbridge For Commuters

Although the Delhi-Meerut Expressway became operational in April 2021, but the work of an over bridge was left in Chipiyana village near Lalkuan in Ghaziabad.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), on Thursday (15 September) opened rail overbridge at Chipiyana for commuters, plugging the final gap that had been pending on the expressway.

The ROB was scheduled to be completed by December 2021, but its construction got delayed due to change in alignment. It has come up over the Delhi-Kanpur railway track over the busy Delhi-Howrah railway section which needed rail blockade for specific time schedules.

Touted as Asia's heaviest bridge, the ROB weighs 2,385 metric tonnes with a steel span that stretches 115 metres in length and 21 metres wide and was erected through hydraulic push in 1.5 years.

The construction work of bridge was almost completed in August, followed by finishing works. This was followed by load testing and monitoring for four days, post which it was opened for vehicles on Thursday night.

The opening of bridge was a momentous occasion as construction worker Shailendra Kumar cut the cake and the ribbon to declare the bridge open.

Delhi Meerut Expressway

The 82- km Delhi Meerut Expressway (DME) project, officially designed as National Expressway 3 (NE-3), is an access-controlled expressway, which spans from Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi to Partapur on Meerut Bypass, with much of its length falling in Ghaziabad.

The project was conceptualised to decongest the national capital and ensure seamless connectivity between Delhi and Meerut, Western UP and Uttarakhand.

It comprises of 6-Lane Expressway and 8-Lane National Highway from Nizamuddin in Delhi to Dasna in Uttar Pradesh and 6-Lane Expressway from Dasna to Meerut (Greenfield alignment).

While the three inner lanes on each side are expressway lanes, the four outer lanes on each side are highway lanes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2018 had inaugurated the first phase of the Rs 8,346-crore 9-km stretch of 14-lane highway.

The NHAI had proposed a 16-lane ROB at Chipiyana keeping in view the increasing vehicular pressure for vehicles coming from 14 lanes in the future.

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