Intelligent Transport System with 150 cameras on Eastern Peripheral Expressway inaugurated by Nitin Gadkari

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Union minister Nitin Gadkari has inaugurated an intelligent transport system on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway to minimize traffic woes and enhance safety of commuters. As many as 150 cameras have been installed on the expressway to monitor the accidents and the commuters driving on the wrong side. Gadkari also dedicated Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME) to the public.

Addressing a gathering the Minister of Road Transport and Highways said the government has constructed highways using the world's latest technology. Gadkari said India needs to improve its road engineering as every year, around 1.5 lakh people are killed in 5 lakh accidents across the country.

"It is a great event in the history of Indian infrastructure (development)," the Road Transport and Highways minister said on the inauguration of the intelligent transport system (ITS). He said the ITS is a revolutionary state-of-the-art technology that will achieve traffic efficiency by minimizing traffic problems, prompting efficient infrastructure usage, enriching users with prior information about traffic and reducing travel time as well as enhancing safety and comfort of commuters.

The ITS can detect any accident and receive alerts to ensure that ambulance reaches the spot within 10-15 minutes. While the speed limit on the 135-km expressway is 120 kmph for cars, the road ministry is working to revise speed limits for different categories of vehicles, he said.

Gadkari also said that a new expressway link will be constructed to connect Delhi and Lucknow, which is expected to reduce commute time between the two cities to three and a half hours. Gadkari further said that the groundbreaking ceremony of the proposed new expressway link will be held in the next 10-12 days in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

"We have made a plan to connect Delhi and Lucknow," he said. "After completion of the new expressway (link), we will be able to complete the distance between Delhi and Lucknow in three and a half hours," the Road Transport and Highways Minister claimed.