Western Peripheral Expressway: 50,000 vehicles may go off Delhi roads

NEW DELHI: With the opening of the Western Peripheral Expressway, nearly 50,000 vehicles are expected to be off Delhi roads in the next few days. The 135km Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway, along with the already operational Eastern Peripheral Expressway, has completed a nearly 270-km ‘ring expressway’ around Delhi. Now, vehicles not destined for Delhi, particularly trucks, can bypass the capital.

“We expect over 50,000 heavy vehicles to go off the road once both the expressways start working in sync,” said joint CP (traffic) Alok Kumar. He also said that the biggest advantage would be the reduction in the number of hit-and-run accidents past midnight. A transport department official said the impact of EPE on vehicular traffic so far was limited as it connects areas mainly in Uttar Pradesh. “Only about 14,000 trucks were diverted to that route. With WPE opening, vehicles coming from northern states such as Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, can now use the expressway to reach central, eastern and southern states and vice versa,” he said, adding, “We expect at least 20,000 vehicles to start using the expressways to begin with and not enter Delhi. In about a fortnight though, we believe 50,000 vehicles will be using the expressways.”

On Monday, more than 20,000 heavy vehicles were diverted to both expressways. But traffic police believe stronger enforcement would be needed to reduce the number further. More than one-and-a-half lakh vehicles enter Delhi from 23 border points and 60 other stretches. Traffic officials say trucks entering through these stretches crowd the Outer Ring Road which is a major connecting route between south Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon. As a result, the road is clogged even during daytime at times. On any given day, at least 400-500 additional vehicles are on the move on these arterial stretches adding to the chaos.

It was also found that nondestined trucks were involved in about one-third of the total number of accidents involving heavy vehicles in the city. Police say even after trucks entering the city without permissions were fined, they had to be allowed to continue as there are no turnaroud facilities. A truck has to travel about 80km through Delhi, while through the EPE, it takes 40km more.

The drivers try to avoid this. “We expect the traffic coming from Punjab, Rajasthan, J & K, etc, and going to Mumbai, Kolkata or South India through NH-8 and NH-1 to now use WPE. But trucks going to areas that are closer, such as Lucknow, might still prefer to travel through Delhi to save time and distance. Only strict enforcement can stop this traffic from entering Delhi,” he said.