Ghaziabad: National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will build a 12km elevated road to decongest the GT Road stretch between Lal Kuan and Dadri.The six-lane road, which is to begin near the Delhi-Meerut Expressway and NH-9 junction at Lal Kuan, will bypass the congested four-lane stretch that connects Ghaziabad with Noida and eventually Aligarh via Sikandrabad, Bulandshahr and Khurja. The elevated road will also open up a faster route to Noida Airport for Ghaziabad residents via Eastern Peripheral Expressway.Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari recently announced the project, after which NHAI initiated the process of preparing a feasibility report. “The proposal to decongest the Lal Kuan stretch has been under consideration for a long time. Following the minister’s announcement, work has begun on the feasibility study,” an NHAI official from the Aligarh division said.The existing 12-kilometre stretch is among the busiest sections of GT Road. Encroachments, roadside commercial activity and illegal parking have narrowed the carriageway at several points. At Lal Kuan, traffic from the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, Sahibabad and Ghaziabad converges before fanning out toward Dadri, Sikandrabad, Bulandshahr and Aligarh, leading to bottlenecks. The route also sees heavy freight movement with trucks heading to the NTPC plant at Dadri and industrial hubs in Kot and Surajpur.With highrises and industries multiplying across Greater Noida and a major industrial hub taking shape at New Noida, both commuter and freight volumes are expected to climb, adding further pressure to a highway already stretched thin.According to NHAI, the corridor currently carries around 35,000 passenger car units (PCUs) daily, making capacity augmentation necessary.After the feasibility report is completed, NHAI will prepare a detailed project report (DPR). Officials estimate the project will cost around Rs 2,000 crore.In 2019, NHAI had proposed widening the 126km Lal Kuan-Aligarh highway from four to six lanes. The project, however, was delayed by land acquisition hurdles, and traffic volumes continued to rise. Officials said the elevated road was conceived as a long-term solution because widening the existing highway alone would not sufficiently address congestion.Ghaziabad Development Authority is also planning a four-lane elevated road between Ghanta Ghar and Bhatia Mod to ease traffic on GT Road within the city.
