NEW DELHI: The travel to Jaipur from Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida and Faridabad has become shorter and faster with the NHAI on Wednesday opening a link road — Bandikui-Jaipur — from the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway. This will reduce travel time from Delhi to 2.5-3 hours compared to the current 3.5-4 hours. The link takes off at Bandikui, 170 km from Sohna — from where the expressway starts.NHAI officials said as safety audit has been completed, traffic is being allowed on the link road as trial. In the next few days, all systems will be in place and tolling will also start, they said.To reach Jaipur, commuters earlier had to leave the expressway at Dausa and take NH-21 — it took at least one and half hours to cover the stretch as it passes through villages and towns.“Now, people can seamlessly get out of the expressway and take the Bandikui-Jaipur spur, which is a 67-km four-lane access-controlled highway. The maximum allowed speed on this link for cars is 100-120 kmph. Enough signage has been put up to inform and guide commuters,” said an NHAI official.Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said the greenfield link has been constructed at a capital cost of Rs 2,016 crore. “This strategically significant project provides direct, access-controlled connectivity between the Delhi–Vadodara Expressway and Jaipur, addressing the lack of a direct route that previously compelled commuters to take longer, fuel-intensive journeys,” he said.The minister said the new spur will reduce travel time between Delhi and Jaipur and also significantly improve mobility, easing congestion on NH-48 and NH-21. This link was added later to the flagship Delhi-Mumbai Expressway project considering growth of Jaipur-bound traffic.While the new link brings down the distance between Delhi and Jaipur by 20 km, there will be more relief for commuters by Dec when the first 9-km stretch of the DND Flyway-KMP interchange on the expressway becomes operational. People heading from Ghaziabad, Noida and East Delhi will be able to travel to Jaipur seamlessly. The entire stretch of 260 km between the DND flyway and Jaipur via the Bandikui link can be completed in two-and-a-half hours.