Greater Noida West Faces Uncertainty Over Elevated Road Project
Greater Noida West is now a crowded commercial hub, filled with high-rise apartments and busy street markets. Yet this rapid growth has unleashed a severe traffic bottleneck that many locals say makes even short journeys unbearable. In response, the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority and the Ghaziabad Development Authority are teaming up on a raised expressway meant to link Ghaziabad directly with Greater Noida West.
Although planners tout shorter travel times, residents worry that the route could destroy as many as three hundred buildings, from small stores to classrooms and even a community hospital. Because the initiative is still on the drawing board, every day, people are left in limbo. Agency teams have begun land surveys, and public meetings have been advertised, but specific start dates, funding levels and fair compensation remain shrouded in silence. This information gap, combined with conflicting reports on which properties will be spared, breeds mistrust and growing anxiety among families and shopkeepers who already struggle with the city’s growing noise and pollution.
Shahberi, nestled within Greater Noida West, is growing fast. New apartment blocks, bustling furniture markets, and small enterprises now line its streets. Yet the neighbourhood-wide network of only 100- to 150-metre-wide lanes turns this vitality into a daily gridlock, especially during morning and evening rush periods. Commuters trying to move between Greater Noida West and Ghaziabad regularly slow down at persistent pinch-points, a situation made worse by parking and deliveries from local furniture shops that spill into the already tight carriageways. Plans for an elevated corridor promise relief, and many view the structure as the much-needed safety valve for surface traffic. Even so, the blueprint carries a heavy price tag in both money and land. Residents and business owners watching construction discussions unfold voice a common worry: will the project swallow part of their homes and shops?
Even as survey teams measure the ground in Shahberi for the planned elevated road, much of the neighbourhood remains in the dark about possible impacts. A nearby shopkeeper shrugged, We’ve heard the road might come, but nobody has talked to us about it. An elderly resident nodded, saying, We didn’t even know they had begun the survey. Confusion on the street stands in contrast to the administrative line. GNIDA chief N. G. Ravi Kumar stated that talks with GDA and the National Highways Authority of India continue. Yet when pressed on whether homes would be demolished, he stopped short of a clear answer.
Feelings about the project swing widely. Commuters who have endured years of gridlock see a new overpass as quick relief. But in places like Shahberi, the prospect of demolition hangs over every decision. Aasif, who runs a furniture stall along the main lane, captured the mood: We’ve been hearing about this for years, but no one has come to explain compensation or what will happen to our properties. Demolition of shops, hospitals, and schools along the proposed route will probably displace a substantial share of the Shahberis community. Most of the buildings are unauthorised, yet residents who have lived and worked there for years see the project as a threat to their daily routines.
While the elevated road plan moves forward, an equally urgent concern is the condition of the current infrastructure. Open drains, long ignored, run beside every storefront and pose serious safety and hygiene hazards. In a desperate fix, locals lay brittle sheets of plywood over the channels, a stopgap that barely withstands the weight of pedestrians. The stench from the exposed sewers and the risk of falling in make every outing unpleasant for vendors and visitors. Recent construction sounds promise change, yet basic protections such as drain covers remain undone. This oversight deepens the hardship already faced by the people of Shahberi.
Although the planned elevated expressway linking Greater Noida West to Ghaziabad is advertised as a solution to long-standing traffic bottlenecks, it has also sparked deep anxiety among households and establishments beside the route. Talk of razing hundreds of homes, shops, schools, and small factories, especially when mixed with scant public briefings or clear compensation schedules, has left many residents feeling ignored and vulnerable. While authorities and planners exchange projections of travel-time gains, locals still cling to the hope that their testimony will temper the blueprint and that the real human price will not be paid in silence.
