New Delhi: Ahead of the Noida International Airport launch, the Noida Authority has planned a major road infrastructure upgrade to ease traffic congestion on the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway. The main aim of the plan is to reduce the traffic pressure on the expressway and provide an alternative route from Delhi to Jewar.

Currently, the road is four lanes wide, but it will first be expanded to six lanes and later to 10 lanes to meet future traffic needs.

The project will also be linked with the Chilla Elevated Road corridor. The 5.9-km-long Chilla Elevated Road, being built from Mayur Vihar to Mahamaya Flyover, is expected to be completed by December next year.

In addition, a 1.4-km elevated link road from Mahamaya Flyover to Okhla Bird Sanctuary Metro Station will be constructed to allow traffic from Delhi to directly access the embankment road without entering the expressway.

Noida Authority CEO Krishna Karunesh said that traffic load is expected to increase once the airport becomes operational. This will make the redevelopment of the embankment road necessary. Officials from the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) and the irrigation department have already inspected the project.

After the feasibility report is prepared, a Detailed Project Report (DPR) will be created. The cost of the entire project will be jointly borne by the Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna authorities.

Nine out of 10 air travellers in Delhi-NCR are unlikely to use over Rs 11,000 crore Noida airport, according to the latest Local Circles survey, reported by Business Standard. 58 per cent of the travellers across Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad said they would continue to prefer Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) because of both lower fares and proximity. For instance, the Noida-Lucknow flights cost near Rs 5,000, while Delhi-Lucknow tickets cost around Rs 3,600 during the same period.

Domestic landing charges at the Jewar airport are reportedly 119 per cent higher than those at IGIA. The User Development Fee will also vary drastically.

Noida International Airport is expected to begin commercial operations on June 15, with IndiGo as the launch carrier, initially connecting Lucknow, Bengaluru, Amritsar, Hyderabad, and Jammu. The airline plans to connect Noida to over 16 domestic destinations within weeks of launch.