Nitin Gadkari shares update on Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, to fully open soon

Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, which is going to be India's longest, is all but fully complete. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has shared the latest update on its construction on Sunday. He showed the section of the expressway that will pass through Madhya Pradesh. The state will have a share of around 240 kms of the 1,386-km long expressway. It is expected to be fully operational between the national capital and the business capital of the country by the end of this year.

The first 209-km stretch of the expressway, which runs between Delhi and Dausa in Rajasthan, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this year. This section is operational already. Nitin Gadkari had said the entire expressway from Delhi to Mumbai will be opened in phases over the next few months. When completed, it will reduce travel time between the two cities to just 12 hours.

Anand Mahindra, Chairman of the Mahindra Group, is in awe of the new expressway. “Amazing. To say that this provokes wanderlust would be an understatement," he wrote on Twitter. Impressed by the highway and expressway constructions around the country, he also suggested the Union Minister to offer some form of virtual experience of the scenic roads. “Why don’t you get some VR simulator programmes made for the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and the other scenic highways that you’re constructing? I’m sure many would love to savour the simulated experience of cruising down these roads even before they get a chance to actually drive on them. Of course, I would prefer if the simulation was through the windshield of a Mahindra SUV," Mahindra said.

The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will pass through five states including Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Delhi has the shortest stretch of nine kms, while most part of the expressway will be in Gujarat with 423-km share. It will offer more than 40 major interchanges, connecting Delhi and Mumbai to places like Kota, Indore, Jaipur, Bhopal, Vadodara and Surat. Ultimately the expressway will connect Delhi to the upcoming Jewar Airport in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh and Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai. It will reduce the distance between Delhi and Mumbai by 180 kms.