The country’s first smart and green Highway is expected to start this month. The Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) will divert around two lakh vehicles entering the national capital on a daily basis. The Expressway will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The cost of the project is roughly Rs 11,000 crore and is a 135km six-lane stretch that connects Palwal, Gautam Budhh Nagar, Faridabad and Ghaziabad. Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Nitin Gadkari, has stated that the project will be completed in 500 days, almost 400 days ahead of the target. The government has spent Rs 4,420 crore towards this project already. The 135km stretch will feature intelligent highway traffic management system and video incident detection system. These will also monitor vehicle speeds, weigh-in-motion, warning devices, pavement management systems and a fibre-optics network. The EPE will have seven interchanges and they also feature rain water harvesting at every 500m. This road will also be the first driveway in India to feature eight solar power plants with combined capacity of over 4,000kW.
The toll plazas will be fitted with electronic toll collection (ETC) that will collect the toll amount based on the distance covered. There will be 2.5 lakh trees and 28 fountains all long the road. There are thirty-six replicas of famous monuments like the Ashoka Lion, Ashoka Chakra, Gateway of India, Qutab Minar, Konark Temple, Jaliyanwala Bagh, Char Minar, Lal Quila, Kirti Stambh, India Gate, Hawa Mahal, along the Expressway.
Several intervals will have petrol pumps, washrooms, motels, restaurants, eateries, and shops, repair services, and more.
