Northeasterners can vroom on 6-lane highway bypassing city

Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has approved 6-laning of NH-37 from Jalukbari to Khapara

By Our Staff Report

Guwahati, Aug 8: Zooming across a six-lane highway at over 100 km an hour with no traffic intersections may soon become a reality for many motorists in the Northeast with a penchant for speed — courtesy, a six-lane highway by-pass from Jalukbari point to Khapara in the city.

In a welcome development, the Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MORT&H) has approved six-laning of the existing four-lane by-pass of tiol Highway 37 from Jalukbari point to Khapara. Huge traffic in the current stretch and Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal's memo to Ministry of Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari to expand it into a six-lane highway led the Ministry to decide on upgrading it.

The MORT&H has also agreed in principle to construct flyovers at all the traffic intersections along the stretch to ensure smooth flow of traffic. Earlier, there was a proposal to construct flyovers only at Basistha Chariali and Lokhra Chariali points. But seeing the surge in traffic in recent times on the highway and how all the intersections cause perennial traffic bottlenecks and impede free movement of vehicles, the Ministry has decided in favour of flyovers at all these points.

This will be the first time that the Northeast will boast of a six-lane highway. The existing 18-km stretch was the first four-lane project in the region to have been taken up and completed under the East-West Corridor that connects Saurashtra with Silchar.

Meanwhile, confirming the development, tiol Highway Authority of India (NHAI) Chief General Mager, Northeast, Raj Chakraborty told The Sentinel that the process for bidding to hire agencies for preparing a detailed project report (DPR) is already underway.

"The MORTH has asked the NHAI to prepare DPR in consultation with the Assam government. The DPR will take into account a long-term perspective and will have proper draige system," Chakraborty added.

Meanwhile, sources said the six-laning of the highway will not take much time as the existing stretch is already a four-lane one and only widening is required on both sides.

And if everything goes as per plan, work will begin as early as 2019. However, with the NHAI earning notoriety in recent times over its lethargic pace of work in completing important highways in the region, one only hopes the project does not suffer from delays.