The work is part of the revised traffic circulation plan for the new airport terminal building, which is expected to come up by the middle of this year. But the wait won’t be that long for motorists — both roads leading to and from the domestic terminal is being widened, and is expected to get over sooner.

“We would expect it to finish in another four or six weeks,” says Arun Arora, associate vice-president (Corporate Communications), of the Delhi International Airport Limited. DIAL, the joint-venture company, has “speeded up” the road widening in view of the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway, he says. “With the new flyover (Rao Tula Ram Marg-Palam, expected to open on Wednesday), the traffic flow is expected to increase.

“So we need to provide more space.”

Once over, the project is expected to spell freedom from serpentine queues that greets drivers to the airport every evening. Airport officials say drivers circling the terminal continuously for arriving passengers worsen the problem.

To further reduce congestion at the domestic airport, the taxi stand was also moved out last week to a site on Old Gurgoan Road. The stand was earlier located opposite the petrol pump at the domestic airport.

Another move to decongest the lead-up to the airport, officials say, is clearing the lane behind the airport bus stand, till now infested with weeds. The area has been cleared to make extra parking space.

New terminal building: DIAL officials say about a fifth of the work is complete. This building is being fashioned akin to international airport, with the check-in counter on the upper tier and the arrival at the ground level. It would also have a new departure building, and an expanded and improved arrival building. 

The proposed departure building would be located between the existing Terminal 1A and Terminal 1C (domestic arrivals). The existing arrivals building 1C would be expanded when the departures are moved from Terminal 1B to the new terminal. The existing Terminal 1B would then be decommissioned.