Eastern Peripheral Expressway: 10 Things To Know About India's First Smart and Green E-Way

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated India's first smart and green highway, the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE), built at a cost of Rs 11,000 crore. The 135-km expressway is India's first highway to be lit by solar power besides provisions of rain water harvesting on every 500 metres on both sides and would showcase 36 national monuments and 40 fountains.

Here’s all you need to know about the Eastern Peripheral Expressway:

1. The project was completed in a record 500 days.

2. There are eight solar power plants on this expressway having a capacity of 4000-kilo watt (4 MW).

3. The state-of-the-art road will have auto challans for over-speeding as cameras will capture speed of vehicles. It will also have provisions of tolling only for the distance travelled. The expressway has an iconic toll plaza at the entry point on Kundli side besides digital art gallery.

4. Around 2.5 lakh trees have been planted near it, including transplant of 8-10 year old trees. It also has drip irrigation provision.

5. It has consumed 11 lakh tonnes of cement, 1 lakh tonnes of steel, 3.6 crore cum earthwork and 1.2 crore fly ash. Union Highways and Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said it generated employment opportunities of about 50 lakh man-days and employed manpower of 9,375.

6. A lot of traffic, outbound or non-destined for Delhi will be diverted. At least 50,000 vehicles going to Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan will be diverted, bringing down vehicular pollution.

7. The alignment of EPE starts near Kundli and passes through six parliamentary constituencies, viz Sonepat, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad and Palwal.

8. The fully access controlled six-lane expressway provides entry and exit designated interchanges only and has 406 structures of which four are major bridges, 46 minor bridges, three flyovers, seven inter-changes, 221 underpasses and eight road over bridges (ROBs).

9. The amenities include retail fuel outlets, rest rooms, motels, restaurants, shops etc. Some of the monuments' replicas pertain to Ashoka Lion, Ashoka Chakra, Konark Temple, Jalianwala Bagh, Gateway of India, Qutab Minar, Char Minar, Lal Quila, Kirti Stambh, India Gate, Hawa Mahal and Gujarat Carving.

10. The Eastern and the Western Peripheral Expressways were planned in 2006 following the apex court's order to build a ring road outside the national capital for channelling the traffic not bound for Delhi.