Delhi-Agra Yamuna Expressway: 165 km in just 2 hours
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Safal Suri
Jul 17, 2012, 2:52:12 PM7/17/12
to YEIDA, YERWA
Delhi-Agra Yamuna Expressway: 165 km in just 2
hours
17 Jul, 2012, 06.35
AM IST, Avijit Ghosh & Prabhakar Sinha,
TNN
The monsoon
is chasing us. We are nearing the third toll plaza on the Yamuna Expressway and
the dark clouds hovering above are dancing wildly like dervishes in delight. We
have left the Formula One stadium far behind but our driver powering an Innova
is in a Ferrari state of mind. He is tearing away at high speed to Agra.
Soon, drops of rain speckle the windscreen like colourless pimples.
Then thick sheets of water come down furiously like liquid silver pellets. For
the first time in our journey, the man at the wheel eases on the accelerator.
For the next 10 minutes, we move at only 90km per hour!
On the 165 km Greater Noida-Agra expressway, the maximum speed limit is 100 kmph for cars and 60 km for heavier vehicles. This seems conservative; given the quality of the road the maximum speed for cars should be 120 kmph. At 100 kmph, you can drive from one end to another of the rockn-roll motorway in two hours.
No road for slow cars, bald tyres
This super highway is not for bald or retreaded tyres. Most accidents on the Pune Expressway are caused by tyre bursts due to overheating in speeding vehicles. All along the Yamuna expressway yellow boards warn potential speed devils - "You are under surveillance" - and that errant drivers will be prosecuted at the next toll plaza.
The inaugural date of the expressway, which cost Rs 10,000 crore, has not been announced yet. The toll fee too isn't known though, sources say, it may be around Rs 300. First announced in 2001, the expressway was reactivated by the Mayawati government in 2007. The project was a tough task considering the engineers and the labourers weren't just constructing a six-lane expressway , with another two emergency lanes on the side.
There are also six interchanges, 70 vehicular underpasses, 41 minor bridges, 76 cart track underpasses and 183 culverts. In case of a breakdown, there are orange SOS booths all along. And a toll free helpline. Rest rooms are located after every toll plaza but there are no petrol pumps.
On the 165 km Greater Noida-Agra expressway, the maximum speed limit is 100 kmph for cars and 60 km for heavier vehicles. This seems conservative; given the quality of the road the maximum speed for cars should be 120 kmph. At 100 kmph, you can drive from one end to another of the rockn-roll motorway in two hours.
No road for slow cars, bald tyres
This super highway is not for bald or retreaded tyres. Most accidents on the Pune Expressway are caused by tyre bursts due to overheating in speeding vehicles. All along the Yamuna expressway yellow boards warn potential speed devils - "You are under surveillance" - and that errant drivers will be prosecuted at the next toll plaza.
The inaugural date of the expressway, which cost Rs 10,000 crore, has not been announced yet. The toll fee too isn't known though, sources say, it may be around Rs 300. First announced in 2001, the expressway was reactivated by the Mayawati government in 2007. The project was a tough task considering the engineers and the labourers weren't just constructing a six-lane expressway , with another two emergency lanes on the side.
There are also six interchanges, 70 vehicular underpasses, 41 minor bridges, 76 cart track underpasses and 183 culverts. In case of a breakdown, there are orange SOS booths all along. And a toll free helpline. Rest rooms are located after every toll plaza but there are no petrol pumps.
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The high-speed motorway knifes through five districts - Gautam Budh Nagar, Aligarh, Mahamaya Nagar (erstwhile Hathras), Mathura and Agra. Driving through is like looking at a picture postcard of hinterland north India. Once past Gautam Buddha University with its stupa-like domes on the left, and the red NIIT building and the few other buildings on the right, if you are venturing towards Agra, you drive through wide open space.
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