In 3 hours, 800 vehicles speed over 140 kmph on Delhi-Meerut Expressway

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During a recent survey to check speed of vehicles plying on the existing stretches of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME), officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) found at least 800 vehicles, mostly cars and SUVs, running at 140 kilometres per hour (kmph) or above, all in a three-hour span.

The finding has officials worried as they ready to start operations on the 22km-long phase 3 (Dasna-to-Hapur) stretch of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME) by August- end.

According to officials, the test was conducted at the 5km elevated section of the DME near Pilkhuwa (going towards Hapur), where about 3,600 passenger car units (PCU) were checked every hour for about three hours. The highway has frequency of about 60,000 PCUs per day.

“We found that out of about 10,800 vehicles on up and down lanes during the three-hour span, nearly 800 vehicles were speeding. Their speed was found to be 140kmph or above. This has raised concerns and we are now planning to install speed radars, like the ones which are to be installed at the other stretches (phases 2 and 4) of the project,” said RP Singh, project director, NHAI.

“The phase 3 of the DME is likely to be completed by August-end and it will take another one-to-two months for installing the devices. After assessing the speed test report, we have decided to write to the traffic police to check and curb speeding as installation of speed detectors will take time,” he said.

Apart from these, NHAI officials said they have also planned to install accident detection cameras at about 40 identified critical junctions under the DME project.

Officials said they will initially keep the speed limit to 100kmph on the expressway. The permissible limit for expressways in the country is 120 kmph while for national highways, the maximum speed limit for cars is 100 kmph in rural areas and 70 kmph in urban areas.

The phase 3 has 10 highway lanes to take commuters to Pilkhuwa, Hapur and further towards Moradabad. The stretch has a 5km-long elevated section bypassing Pilkhuwa and another 2.5km-long elevated section to take commuters from Masuri to the other side of the Upper Ganga Canal, towards Hapur.

The other DME stretch being worked upon is the 19.28 km stretch (UP Gate to Dasna) under phase 2. The stretch is likely to be opened by December this year.

“We have planned to install speed radars and detection systems at Pratap Vihar and Bamheta locations under phase 2 while some have been planned under phase 4 (Dasna to Meerut) at the km 35 milestone (3km ahead of the Eastern Peripheral Expressway’s Dasna interchange) and the km 52 milestone at Jainuddinpur,” Singh added.