L&T launches ₹16,000-cr elevated air taxiway project

Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) has awarded a contract to Larsen and Toubro to build twin 1.5-km-long and 203-metre-wide elevated cross taxiways (ECTs) with a 148-metre bridge section over the main road between T3 and Mahipalpur and also a 43.8-metre bridge portion over a road adjacent to the boundary wall of the airport. The smaller bridge section will be on the road along the boundary wall leading to the area behind the Centaur Hotel; the entire project is estimated to cost ₹16,000 crore. The existing road will make way for an underpass to allow the elevated taxiway to pass over it and the main T3 road will remain at the existing level. The taxiway will be an elevated bridge eight metres over it. With this project, IGI will become the only airport in India to have an elevated taxiway — like Singapore's Changi and Germany's Leipzig/Halle airports — with roads passing below the ECT at two points. DIAL has selected construction giant L&T for the current phase of expansion under which IGIA will get a fourth runway, ECT and a bigger Terminal 1 for which the company has begun the construction work. The ECT bridges are designed to carry the weight of the heaviest aircraft, such as the Airbus A380 and there will also be carriageways on the sides for passage of emergency vehicles like fire tenders and tow tractors in case of a plane breaking down. According to L&T, the ECT will have two parallel taxiways, each about 1.8-km-long and 44-metre-wide and they will be separated by a space of 47 metres to allow for the safe passage of two passing aircrafts.