Dwarka Expressway – A tale of two realities: Cruise on top, off-road below
The Gurgaon stretch of Dwarka Expressway is a contemporary, nine-lane elevated corridor designed as a national highway to facilitate fast-moving traffic. It is nearing completion and is set to be launched soon. Once finished, it will provide a seamless and effortless commute between Gurgaon’s new sectors and Dwarka. Additionally, it will offer an alternative route for people residing in that part of Delhi who need to travel to Gurgaon for work or reach the airport.
However, the situation drastically changes when we look beneath the expressway. The view beneath the elevated corridor resembles an off-roading track rather than the gleaming tar of a landing strip. It is a complex network of diversions and excavations covered in thick dust, which not only hampers visibility but also envelops everything in its path, including water bodies, trees, and billboards. This lower road is also part of the Dwarka Expressway project ready to move and will serve as the primary artery for Gurgaon’s traffic, connecting the new sectors, Manesar, and Pataudi.
Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that this lower road will be completed by the first or second week of June, even if the main elevated expressway section in the NCR city opens as scheduled. Even after the expressway’s inauguration, commuters within Gurgaon will still have to travel on the road below to reach their homes. Since the service roads, which are handled by the civic agencies as separate assignments, have yet to be constructed, commuters will have to navigate through unpaved and bumpy stretches.
