Delhi-Dehradun Expressway may open by Feb ’26

The project is being constructed at a cost of ₹11,868.6 crore and was initially targeted to be completed in December 2024

New Delhi

The project will link with the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway, the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, and key roads to Haridwar and Roorkee. (HT Archive)

The 210-kilometre Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, which will more than halve the travel time of six hours between the two cities, is expected to open by February 2026, after multiple delays pushed back its latest target of October 2025, according to a senior functionary aware of the matter.

The project is being constructed at a cost of ₹11,868.6 crore and was initially targeted to be completed in December 2024. After a Rajya Sabha reply in July said it would open in October, work to wrap up construction continues, officials said.

The early 2026 target was set after the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) directed the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) to inaugurate the project once all the phases are complete.

Four phases

The first phase of the project, on the Delhi side, starting at Akshardham and passing through Geeta Colony, Shastri Park, Mandola Vihar in Ghaziabad, and up to Khekra in Baghpat, has been ready for over six months. On September 8, when Delhi saw localised flooding, many commuters on two-wheelers travelling from the Akshardham side had removed the barriers to use the expressway and avoid traffic snarls.

The third phase, which involves widening the existing brownfield section from Saharanpur Bypass to Ganeshpur, is also in advanced stages of construction, officials said.

In the fourth phase, safety and finishing works on the elevated section near Dehradun are underway.

A National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) official, not wishing to be named, said precautionary measures were taken up in the monsoon due to flooding in a seasonal river. “The remaining works—including protection measures near the Daat Kali temple in Dehradun, installation of mobile towers, and works in the finishing tunnel —are expected to be completed in November,” the official said.

The history

The project’s foundation stone was first laid by Union minister Nitin Gadkari on February 26, 2021, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid another foundation stone on December 4, 2021. Starting from Akshardham in Delhi, the expressway runs via Baghpat, Baraut, Shamli, and Saharanpur.

A key feature of the project is its 12-kilometre-long elevated corridor that passes through the Rajaji National Park—making it Asia’s longest such stretch—along with six animal underpasses. The expressway also includes over 100 underpasses, five railway overbridges, and will link with the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway, the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, and key roads to Haridwar and Roorkee.

The expressway had faced criticism for widespread deforestation since its conception.

In the aforementioned Rajya Sabha reply in July, MoRTH said a total of 17,913 trees had been felled or transplanted. As a mitigation measure, NHAI said 50,600 trees are being planted within the right-of-way, and ₹40 crore was given to Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand forest departments.

In March, the NHAI was fined by the National Green Tribunal for failing to furnish details of afforestation.