GURGAON: The Sohna-Dausa stretch of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway has made the drive to Jaipur a breeze but the challenges before the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and police in managing it are obvious even in the early days.A drive from Nuh to the Hodal toll plaza showed that while vehicular flow is still lean, autos, bikes and even bicycles have begun to frequent the access-controlled road, often driving down the wrong side. Jaywalking is not an uncommon sight either as people jump over the fences to get to the other side or catch up mid-expressway with a friend or relative passing by.”The expressway is managed centrally by a traffic command centre. Everything is captured on camera and the moment a rule violation is noted, emergency and patrolling vehicles are alerted so they can take action. We respond immediately, but it’ll take some time for things to be streamlined,” an NHAI official said.Operators of emergency-response vehicles told TOI tackling public nuisance on the expressway is a challenging job for them. Among the most frequent alerts they have received on a WhatsApp group for coordination since the road was opened to the public is about people stopping midway to click selfies, take videos or eat and drink. Last Thursday, a family of four on the way to Dausa saw in the wide median verge an ideal picnic spot and tucked it into their lunch boxes.Delhi-Mumbai Expressway: PM Narendra Modi inaugurates 246-km Delhi-Dausa-Lalsot stretchLocals like Mohd Ibrahim have also entertained guests on the expressway. Ibrahim, who lives at Jhopadin village in Nuh, said his relatives were going to Dubai and would have to take a long detour to reach Jhopadin. “So we decided to meet them and offer refreshments – cold drinks and samosas -midway only,” said the 50-year-old trucker, satisfied with his accomplishment.Teenagers, meanwhile, are using the fences as a gallery to view cars zoom past. “I don’t know what good it will do for the Mewat region, but this is good timepass after school hours. We come here to see cars. We also see people stop to take photos and videos,” said Sohaib (13), among a group of boys perched on the fence.PM Modi to dedicate Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, witness the aerial photos of the ambitious projectIn the last five days, since the expressway was opened to the public, three accidents have been reported as well. On Thursday, an SUV had rammed into a truck that had broken down. “It was early in the morning and visibility was poor. The SUV, which was coming from behind at high speed, could not gauge the truck. CCTV cameras captured the incident and we were alerted to reach the spot with an ambulance,” Kamlesh Kumar, who manages a 24×7 medical emergency ambulance on the expressway, said.The 130-km Sohna-Dausa stretch of the 1,380-km-long Delhi-Mumbai expressway is expected to decongest the Delhi-Jaipur highway and provide seamless connectivity between Gurgaon, Nuh, Palwal and Faridabad via loops.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/whats-happening-on-jaipur-expressway/articleshow/98054745.cms
