Yamuna Expressway now open; toll-free ride till August 15

New Delhi/ Lucknow: The Yamuna Expressway opened to traffic on Thursday, slashing travel time between Delhi and Agra by almost half and offering a toll-free ride on India's longest elevated highway till August 15.

The 165-km, six-lane expressway, which links Greater Noida to the city of the Taj Mahal, was inaugurated by UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow via video link to the actual event held at its starting point near Delhi.

Toll on the 13,300-crore road will come into effect from August 16, said Manoj Gaur, executive chairman of the Jaypee Group, the infrastructure major that executed the project. A round trip by car will attract a toll of 510 ( 320 for one way) at 2.10 per km.

The toll is set at 6.60 a km for buses and trucks, 3.23 for minis and 10.10 for heavy vehicles. Commuters using two-wheelers will have to pay 240 for a round trip and 150 one way. Round-trip charges would be 1.6 times that of a one-way ride if the return journey is done within 24 hours. Commuters using the expressway for at least 20 visits a month will be eligible for a 20% discount.

Gaur told ET that he expects toll revenues to be about 200-250 crore in the first year of operation. The speed limit on the road has been fixed at 100 km an hour for cars and 60 km an hour for heavy vehicles.

The expressway project was announced by former chief minister Mayawati in 2001 to help reduce congestion on a 200-km stretch of national highway 2 that took close to five hours to cover.

Although the project was ready a few months ago, the UP government had decided to give its nod only after pending work on the support infrastructure around the expressway was completed.

The existing highway, which cuts through two states, has several bottlenecks, which extend travel time between Delhi and Agra to up to five hours.

Yadav told reporters that Jaypee Infratech will not be allowed to charge toll on the Noida-Greater Noida expressway that the company had built earlier.

He also said he was opposed to the construction of the Ganga Expressway project awarded by the previous Mayawati government to the Jaypee group. The proposed expressway between Noida and Ballia could not take off, as necessary clearances did not come through.