Delhi :5 new routes to IGIA

Flying out of Delhi is going to be a smooth experience in the next couple of years. Not only the Delhi airport is getting an international look, the government is also working on projects to make it easily accessible.
With an aim to decongest traffic on roads leading to the Indira Gandhi International Airport, five new routes will be thrown open to the public before the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
According to a survey, 1.75 lakh people and 95 thousand vehicles travel to and from the airport everyday. The number of passengers and vehicles is constantly rising, so is the demand for more approach roads. With the Commonwealth Games just 27 months away, the government is working overtime to provide tourists and players better connectivity to the airport.
According to a senior Ministry of Urban Development official, construction of two underpasses at Rao Tularam Marg, a separate route from the Dwarka roundabout and a tunnel at Mahipalpur for better connectivity to the airport are to be constructed on a priority basis.
Apart from that, the official said, two more routes —an underpass crossing the National Highway-8 and a separate access from the international terminal to the domestic one on the southern side of the airport—would also be constructed to facilitate a hassle-free drive.
While the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) will construct the underpass at an estimated cost of Rs 100 crore, the four-lane Mahipalpur tunnel project will be executed at an estimated cost of Rs 200 crore by the Delhi government. The other three projects will soon be finalized, the official said.
According to DDA officials, a committee was formed to study the recommendations made by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) on integrated traffic circulation plan around the airport, Dwarka and NH-8. CRRI had recommended new road links around IGI airport, particularly NH-8, grade separators at Dwarka, underpass at Mahipalpur crossing and new access roads to the southern and northern side of the airport to ease traffic.
According to CRRI, the airport modernisation plan initiated by the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) and the upgradation of National Highway-8 to an expressway might have eased the traffic situation to some extent but an urgent need was felt to upgrade the transport infrastructure along the airport corridor to boost and sustain the socio-economic development on this stretch