Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Harsh Malhotra on May 17 reviewed the progress of the 210 km long Delhi-Dehradun Expressway. During this, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) officials informed him that the remaining parts of this major project will be completed in the next 2-3 months. After the expressway becomes operational, the travel time will be reduced from 6.5 hours to just 2.5 hours.
The project is being prepared at a cost of about Rs 12,000 crore, which will start from Akshardham in Delhi and go to Dehradun via Baghpat, Shamli, and Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh. Under this, a 3.4 km section from Datkali to Ashrauri in Dehradun is already active.
Other key features of the project include 113 underpasses, 5 railway over-bridges, 76 km of service roads, 16 entry and exit points, 29 km long elevated roads, and 62 bus shelters. Also, a 340-metre-long three-lane tunnel has been constructed at Datkali in Dehradun.
According to reports, legal battles over land disputes in Ghaziabad’s Mandola have caused delays in the project as a two-storey house there is obstructing a vital section. Officials are awaiting final decisions of the Supreme Court and the High Court. Apart from this, there was a slight problem in March 2025 due to the collapse of a pillar of the expressway in Saharanpur, which was immediately brought under control.
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