Himalayan Expressway

The Himalayan Expressway is a 27.5 km stretch of highway in India that runs through the Shivaliks at the trijunction of Haryana, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh. It is part of the Chandigarh–Shimla Expressway which connects Zirakpur in Punjab to Parwanoo in Himachal Pradesh.^[1] The stretch runs through 2 km in Zirakpur, Punjab, 21 km in Panchkula, Haryana, and 4.5 km in Parwanoo, Himachal Pradesh. It was constructed by Jaypee Group.

Himalayan Expressway
Route information
Maintained by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)
Length	27.5 km (17.1 mi)
Existed	May 2012–present
Major junctions
South end	Zirakpur, Punjab
North end	Parwanoo, Himachal Pradesh
Location
Country	India
States	Punjab, Haryana, & Himachal Pradesh
Major cities	Zirakpur, Panchkula, Parwanoo
Highway system
Roads in India Expressways National State Asian

Benefits

Although the road cuts short the distance between Zirakpur and Parwanoo by only 3 km, but it helps save fuel and cuts time of travel between Delhi and Shimla by 1 hour to 7 hours, by helping commuters bypass the congested towns of Pinjore and Kalka.

Salient Features

• The stretch has 32 structures including a rail overbridge, two flyovers and 11 bridges.
• Total Project cost Rs.412 Crore.^[2]
• The 14-lane toll plaza at Chandimandir, is the first plaza in India to be fitted with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.
• For better monitoring of mishaps, it is fitted with video incident detection system (VIDS).

References

1. Himalayan Expressway to cut travel time to Shimla – The Times of India
2. . NBM&CW. 5 May 2012. Archived from the original on 7 June 2012.