A six-lane arterial road connecting Noida, Greater Noida, Delhi and Ghaziabad, which had been delayed over the last four years as a result of a row on land acquisition, has now been opened to public. Intended to cut travel time between the four cities and provide a congestion-free ride to commuters, the road is 130 m wide and 28 km long.

According to officials, the road, built at a cost of Rs 200 crore, is a part of the Greater Noida's Master Plan-2021. So far it runs between Parthala Khanjarpur in Noida's Sector 122 and Sirsa-Kasna in Greater Noida.

In Greater Noida, it begins from Sector Zeta and runs till Vijaynagar in Ghaziabad, passing through Devla, Khodna, Khurd and Haibatpur in Greater Noida (West).

Officials said it will cut down travel time between Greater Noida and Ghaziabad to 30 minutes. Until now, commuters used the Etaida-Chaproula route, which took close to two hours.

"The distance will be reduced by nearly 10 km," said a Noida authority official. The link road also provides a shorter route between Noida City Centre/NH-24 and Greater Noida sectors (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Zeta, etc.), as well as Bodaki station, being developed as India's largest railway terminal.

As part of the master plan, this link road will eventually be stretched to the Eastern Peripheral Expressway near Sirsa to connect with Palwal on the KMP (Kundli-Manesar-Palwal) Expressway. The same 130-metre Expressway will also be merged with Yamuna Expressway, in case someone wants to go to Agra from Ghaziabad, and provide a link between Greater Noida and NH-24. It will also be an alternate route to the existing 24-km Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, officials said.

In future, Yamuna Expressway Authority will extend this stretch by another 41 km from Greater Noida to Jewar. On its part, GNIDA is also planning a 100-metre-wide commercial belt on one of its sides, besides a dedicated 6-lane bus corridor.

"We are also planning to put in place an alternate mode of transport, a Light Rapid Transit System (LRTS) like a mono rail, to connect the cities along the route. For this, we have kept provision for a 30-metre-wide central verge along the 130-metre link road," the official said.

"This central verge will house a green area and provide space for an alternate mode of transport in future," he added. The road will also have seven-metre-wide service roads on each side of the dual carriageway. The main carriageway will measure 10.5 m on either side. A rotary has been built at every 1.5 km along the route to provide traffic with easy ingress and egress.