Have you come across an interview of Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari where he said that it would take 20 minutes to travel from Haryana’s Panipat to Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport? We are here to decode the facts behind this claim by analysing all the infra angles. Let’s dive-in.

The government has made infrastructure plans to access Delhi airport from cities in-and-around Delhi-NCR in the least possible time. For this, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has been tasked with the construction of Dwarka Expressway. This much-awaited road project is on track for a December inauguration.

This ambitious project is the country’s first access controlled grade separated 14-lane Expressway. It will bypass NH-48 between Shiv Murti near IGI Airport and Kherki Daula near Manesar. The road project is a part of the Delhi Congestion Plan with more than 99.3 percent completion in the Gurugram segment. It will have an eight-lane elevated structure along with the nation’s first 4 km long 8-lane tunnel.

What was the viral video about?

The video viral on social media platform asserts that the travel time from Panipat to the airport will be cut down to just 20 minutes. Presently, it takes around 2 hours to cover the distance of more than 100 km via NH-44. Thus, covering a more than 100 km journey in just 20 minutes raises doubts.

According to The Indian Express, vehicles coming from Panipat have to take the Urban Extension Road-2 (UER 2) after reaching Alipur and continue till Dwarka Expressway. The expressway is about 40 km away from Alipur and takes the tunnel to reach the airport.

The report further added that on the completion of the tunnelling work and UER 2, the commuters can easily reach Delhi airport from Manesar in Gurgaon in 20 minutes. Currently, it takes about 38 minutes to cover the distance of around 35 kms from Manesar to IGI airport via NH-48.

Tunnels on Dwarka Expressway:-

The state-of-art highway will have two tunnels of length 3.6 km and 2.5 km from Kapashera border to NH-8 and NH-8 to Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in Delhi. Both tunnels are part of package 1 of Dwarka Expressway.

The tunnel from Kapashera border to NH-8 is set to be the longest and widest urban road tunnel in the country. As of now, the NHAI has completed 80 per cent of the physical progress. While, 50 per cent of the structural work has been completed on the second tunnel that connects NH-8 to T-3 of the IGI airport. It will have six lanes.

The 29-km-long Dwarka Expressway is being built at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore (approx). It consists of four levels – Tunnel/Underpasses, At-Grade Road, Elevated Flyover, and Flyover above Flyover. The construction of the expressway will help to reduce traffic congestion, address valuable wastage of work hours and will reduce vehicular pollution of Delhi-NCR.