Delhi Dehradun ́Economic Corridor: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway on Tuesday (April 14). Built at a cost of Rs 11,868 crore, the 210-km highway is expected to cut down travel time to 2.5 hours.As per the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), the highway will reduce the distance between the two cities from 235 km to 210 km, and travel time from 6.5 hours as of now to 2.5 hours once it is operational.The NHAI says that on the highway, a 20 km-long stretch between Ganeshpur and Asharodi features a 10.97 km-long animal underpass designed to facilitate unobstructed animal movement. This includes Asia’s one of the largest wildlife elevated corridors at an average height of six to seven metres to accommodate even the largest mammal.The highway is designed for driving at a minimum speed of 100 kmph. Apart from connectivity to Dehradun, the highway is designed with a spur to Haridwar to facilitate connection with the Char Dham highway. The project was kicked off after Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the highway on December 4, 2021.Uttarakhand Forest Minister Subodh Uniyal said on Monday that the final 20-kilometre stretch of the project passes through dense forest areas of the Shivalik Forest Division in Uttar Pradesh and the Rajaji Tiger Reserve and Dehradun Forest Division in Uttarakhand.“Large-scale compensatory afforestation has been carried out in both Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh to compensate for the forest land diverted for the project. A total of 165.5 hectares has been afforested, with 1,95,000 trees planted. Under the direction of the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee, additional eco-restoration works worth Rs 40 crore are also being undertaken for forest and wildlife conservation,” Uniyal said.Also Read | Delhi-Dehradun Expressway to cut travel time to 2.5 hours: How it compares with flight and trainUniyal said that initially, it was estimated that 45,000 trees would need to be cut for the project; however, the Forest Minister said that eventually, 33,840 trees were saved.Story continues below this adWhile he said that 11,160 trees have been felled for the project, Union Minister of MoRTH Nitin Gadkari, in response to a question in the Rajya Sabha, said that 17,913 trees have been felled for the project. “As an environmental mitigation measure, compensatory afforestation in 157.2 hectares of land is being carried out by the respective Forest Departments. In addition to that, avenue plantation of 50,600 trees has also been taken up by the NHAI within the right of way of the highway,” he said in July. He further said that landslide mitigation measures have also been taken up at potential landslide locations as per Indian Road Congress (IRC) Codal provisions.During construction, maximum priority was given to wildlife safety, with measures such as sound barriers and light barriers installed to minimise noise and light pollution, Uniyal said. He added that the corridor will reduce human-wildlife conflict and promote safe and smooth movement of animals. “It will also enable better genetic exchange among species, which is crucial for biodiversity conservation. Over the next 20 years, the project is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 240 million tonnes, which is equivalent to the absorption capacity of 6 to 6.8 million trees, and fuel savings of around 19% are projected,” he said.The NHAI, in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), last week released a report titled ‘Landscapes Reconnected’, documenting the first evidence of wildlife using animal underpasses on the Delhi-Dehradun highway. The study methodology had a 40-day monitoring programme with 150 high-tech camera traps and 29 AudioMoth acoustic recorders deployed along the corridor.Also Read | Delhi-Dehradun Expressway: First wildlife movement recorded in critical underpass ahead of April 14 opening“The study documented a total of 1,11,234 images of humans, domestic animals, and wildlife. Among these, 40,444 were attributed to 18 unique wild species utilising the underpass, including various carnivores, herbivores, ungulates, pheasants, and primates. The Golden Jackal was the most frequently captured, followed closely by Nilgai, Sambar, and Spotted Deer. Smaller mammals, including the Indian Hare, also showed consistent movement through the structures. Notably, the study also recorded 60 instances of the elephants safely utilising the corridors, establishing that even the largest wild animals can navigate the new infrastructure to maintain their natural migration patterns,” as per the government.Four sectionsStory continues below this adThe first section aims to decongest northeast Delhi. It features six lanes and is divided into two packages: 14.75 km in Delhi, of which 6.4 km is elevated, and a 16.85 km package in Uttar Pradesh, of which 11.2 km is elevated.The second section passes through the districts of Baghpat, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur. The third section, a four-lane road, starts from Saharanpur Bypass and ends at Ganeshpur. The fourth section, a six-lane stretch, passes through the Reserve Forest of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, spanning 20 km. This section passes through the Rajaji National Park and is touted to have Asia’s longest elevated wildlife corridor, which includes the 340 metre Daat Kali tunnel. This tunnel’s breakthrough was achieved in August 2022.Court caseAmid the construction, a court case had dispelled rumours of a potential gridlock in the opening. The issue pertained to a land parcel of a 90-metre stretch of the service road near the fifth ramp. The owner, Lakshyaveer Saroha, filed a writ petition in the High Court of Allahabad regarding the acquisition, as the NHAI took over the land through the UP government. The disputed land, initially owned by the petitioner’s grandfather in Mandola, Ghaziabad, was also a part of the chunk of land acquired for a housing scheme.The NHAI later said that there will be no hindrance to traffic using the main expressway. “Only a small part of the service road will be hindered by the disputed land/structure. In order to maintain the traffic flow at the location, a temporary bypass arrangement has been made,” it said.