Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday, has announced that the long-awaited Delhi-Dehradun Expressway will be opened for public use in the next 10-15 days.
Speaking on Wednesday, Gadkari said the 212-kilometre expressway is almost ready and will soon be opened for traffic. Once operational, the expressway is expected to reduce travel time between Delhi and Dehradun to around two hours.
The expressway will start near the Akshardham area in Delhi and pass through several districts of Uttar Pradesh, including Baghpat, Baraut, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli and Saharanpur, before ending in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
Earlier, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had set a target to complete the project by October 2025.
Gadkari also informed Parliament that he has sought time from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the inauguration of the six-lane expressway.
The project has been constructed at an estimated cost of nearly Rs 12,000 crore and is divided into four sections. It connects areas such as Akshardham, Shastri Park, Khajuri Khas, the Eastern Peripheral Expressway interchange at Khekra in Mandola, and several towns in western Uttar Pradesh before reaching Dehradun. The Delhi-Dehradun Expressway has a designated maximum speed limit of 100 km/h for light motor vehicles (cars).
Special arrangements have been made to protect wildlife along the route, especially between Ganeshpur and Dehradun. The expressway includes a 12-km elevated road, six animal underpasses, two elephant underpasses, two major bridges and 13 minor bridges.
The project was approved in 2020, and its foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December 2021.
