Is NH-44 the Right Location for Sonipat’s New Busport?

Sonipat has waited nearly fifteen years for a modern busport. During this period, the proposed location has shifted repeatedly, from Kamaspur to Sector 7, then Jat Joshi, later near the KMP Expressway, and now back to Jat Joshi.

The continued uncertainty raises a basic planning question:

Should a major regional transport hub be placed on an already heavily trafficked national highway that is gradually becoming part of the city's urban core?

The proposed site at Jat Joshi lies between Bahalgarh and Sector 7 along NH-44. This corridor is no longer a peripheral highway. Under the Sonipat-Kundli Development Plan 2031, major residential sectors are planned on both sides of NH-44.

Sectors 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 17, 18, and 19 lie on one side, while Sectors 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, and 90 are planned on the other. As these sectors develop, the highway will increasingly serve both regional traffic and local urban movement.

That combination is potentially problematic.

An Already Heavily Loaded Corridor

NH-44 is one of North India's most important transport corridors. It carries interstate buses, freight vehicles, industrial traffic and long-distance passenger movement.

Available traffic assessments for the Delhi-Panipat corridor indicate volumes of more than 100,000 Passenger Car Units per day, with traffic projected to rise substantially over the next decade.

The Bahalgarh area also has several identified accident-prone locations. This suggests that the corridor already faces operational and safety pressures.

A major busport at this location would add much more than bus traffic. It would generate:

• passenger drop-off and pick-up vehicles,
• autos and e-rickshaws,
• local feeder buses,
• parking movements,
• commercial traffic,
• pedestrians,
• and frequent bus entry and exit movements.

The real challenge would therefore arise at access points, service roads, junctions and merging areas-not simply on the main highway lanes.

Tomorrow's Mobility Corridor, Not Just Today's Highway

The strongest planning argument against the proposed location of the busport at Jat Joshi is not based on today's traffic alone, it is based on how this corridor is expected to evolve over the next decade.

NH-44 is rapidly emerging as Sonipat's principal multimodal mobility corridor.

The proposed Delhi–Panipat Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) is planned broadly along this corridor, while the extension of Delhi Metro's Yellow Line from Samaypur Badli towards Sonipat, with the proposed station around Sector 7 before further northern expansion, will further reinforce NH-44 as the city's primary public transport spine.

Simultaneously, the notified Development Plan 2031 envisages extensive residential development on both sides of the highway, with Sectors 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 16, 17, 18, 19 on west side and Sectors 80 to 90 on the east side.

These three major planning initiatives-urban expansion, metro connectivity and RRTS-are expected to transform the NH-44 corridor from a national highway into Sonipat's most important integrated transport corridor.

Such corridors are intended to maximise the efficient movement of people through high-capacity public transport while maintaining smooth regional traffic flow. International planning practice generally seeks to minimise new conflict points along these strategic corridors by carefully controlling land uses and major traffic generators.

A large intercity busport, however, would introduce thousands of additional daily vehicle movements, passenger drop-offs, auto-rickshaws, taxis, feeder buses and pedestrians at precisely the location where regional highway traffic, metro commuters and future RRTS passengers are expected to converge.

Instead of complementing the emerging multimodal transport system, the busport risks competing with it for the same road space.

As Sonipat grows, the city's planning objective should be to preserve the NH-44 corridor as a high-capacity mobility spine while distributing local traffic through the internal sector road network and dedicated public transport interchanges.

The question is therefore not whether the busport can operate here today. It is whether this location remains appropriate once NH-44 begins functioning simultaneously as a national highway, an RRTS corridor, a metro corridor and the central urban axis of a much larger Sonipat.

Land Availability Is Not Enough

One argument in favour of Jat Joshi is that the government already owns land there. Another is that buses would have easy access to NH-44.

These are valid advantages, but they are not sufficient.

Land ownership reduces immediate project cost, but it does not prove that the location is suitable for the next fifty years. Similarly, highway access may help intercity buses, but passengers will still approach the terminal through local roads, private vehicles, autos and e-rickshaws.

A busport must therefore work for both regional transport and local urban access.

What Should Be Done Before Construction?

Sonipat certainly needs a modern busport. The issue is not whether it should be built, but whether Jat Joshi is the right site.

Before final approval, the government should undertake an independent and transparent assessment covering:

• present and future traffic conditions,
• full development of multiple residential Sectors,
• peak-hour bus and passenger movements,
• road safety,
• service-road and junction capacity,
• pedestrian access,
• and comparison with alternative sites near KMP or other peripheral corridors.

The site should proceed only if terminal traffic can be safely separated from NH-44 through traffic and accommodated without worsening congestion or accident risks.

Planning for Sonipat's Future

A busport is a long-term urban investment. Once constructed, it is difficult and expensive to relocate.

The question is therefore not whether Sonipat deserves a world-class busport. It clearly does.

The real question is whether one of the city's largest transport generators should be located on one of its busiest highway corridors, between rapidly developing residential sectors.

Before construction begins, that question deserves an objective, evidence-based and publicly available answer.

In fact, the proposed Metro and RRTS investments present an opportunity to rethink the entire regional public transport strategy. Rather than locating a standalone busport on NH-44, Sonipat should explore an integrated multimodal transport hub where intercity buses, metro, RRTS, city buses and intermediate public transport are seamlessly connected while minimising conflicts with highway traffic. Such an approach would align the city's transport infrastructure with the vision of the National Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Policy and contemporary metropolitan planning practices, ensuring that today's investment continues to serve Sonipat efficiently for the next half century.

The author is an Urban Economist and the Chief Editor of Devdiscourse.