EPE: A fortnight later, low traffic on expressway due to safety woes

Besides intermittent patches along 90% of the 135-km highway, the stretch has no street lights

It is evening and a few trucks trundle into the spanking new Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE), which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi about a fortnight ago. The 135-km highway, which connects Kundli to Palwal in Haryana via Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, will allow the trucks to make the journey in about half the time than they used to. The trucks save on time and fuel, and since the new route bypasses Delhi, the capital breathes easier with fewer heavy vehicles entering the city and adding to its traffic congestion and toxic air pollution.

That, at least, is the ideal