Greater Noida: Noida International Airport is just eight months away from starting. Several options have been in the works for years to provide connectivity to the airport which is being built at a cost of about six thousand crores, but apart from connectivity with the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, no other project has been able to see the light of the day. Even the construction of the interchange to connect the Eastern Peripheral Expressway and Yamuna Expressway is stuck in limbo. 

Despite the consent of the National Highway Authority of India, the interchange construction work is on hold awaiting the approval of the state cabinet. With the opening of the airport, Gautam Buddha Nagar will be included in the districts providing air passenger service, but the increased pressure on the roads due to traffic may lead to serious traffic jams. 

One crore twenty lakh passengers will travel annually

Initially, 12 million passengers will travel by air from the airport every year. The biggest challenge is the smooth movement of passengers to the airport. For this, various options are being discussed for years. Detailed project reports were prepared for everything from railways to metro, Namo Bharat Rail, pod taxi, road etc. Crores of rupees were spent on these, but till now these projects have not been able to see the way out of the files. 

Metro, pod taxi project planning cancelled 

For connectivity of IGI Airport to Noida Airport, Yamuna Authority prepared DPR for Metro project from Jewar to New Delhi and Pod Taxi project from Noida Airport to Film City. Crores of rupees were spent but DPRs ended up in the dustbin. State government has approved the DPR of 72 km long Namo Bharat from Ghaziabad to Noida Airport but still awaiting budget for construction. Even after the airport starts functioning, one will have to wait for six years for connectivity of Namo Bharat Rail.

Delhi-Mumbai Expressway passing over Yamuna Expressway

In the initial phase of the Rundhi to Chola railway route planning, the project to connect Delhi Mumbai and Delhi Howrah route with Noida Airport by laying a railway track from Rundhi to Chola in Haryana is still in the initial stage of planning, this route of about sixty km long has to pass the stages of approval and budget from various departments and the Central Government.

Traffic will increase on the roads, challenge to deal with jam 

With the opening of the airport, 12 million passengers from Delhi NCR, West Uttar Pradesh and Haryana's border districts will come to Noida Airport for air service every year. The traffic pressure in Noida, Greater Noida Expressway, Eastern Peripheral Expressway, National Highway etc. will increase manifold, the biggest challenge will be to deal with the traffic jams on the roads. The plan to connect Eastern Peripheral Expressway and Yamuna Expressway by making an interchange in 2019 is still pending even after six years. People have to travel a long distance.