Delhi-Faridabad section of Mumbai expressway opens for trials

A carriageway of the recently constructed Delhi section of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway has opened for trials, allowing commuters to enter the corridor through the Ring Road and DND Flyway at Sarai Kale Khan-Maharani Bagh and move towards Faridabad in Haryana via Jaitpur and Meethapur in south Delhi, three senior traffic police officers said on Saturday

A carriageway of the recently constructed Delhi section of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway has opened for trials, allowing commuters to enter the corridor through the Ring Road and DND Flyway at Sarai Kale Khan-Maharani Bagh and move towards Faridabad in Haryana via Jaitpur and Meethapur in south Delhi, three senior traffic police officers said on Saturday.

Commuters can enter the corridor through Ring Road and DND Flyway at Sarai Kale Khan. (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO)

The trial run started on Friday and is likely to continue for a month to test operational readiness before it is formally inaugurated, officers aware of the matter said.

Additional commissioner of police (Traffic) Dinesh Kumar Gupta said, “The trials are being conducted to assess the road and traffic arrangements before full opening. As of now, the trials are only on the carriageway going towards Faridabad via Jaitpur. We will start the trials on the opposite carriageway soon. Once operational, the corridor is expected to give commuters travelling towards Faridabad and Jaipur from Delhi and Noida a smooth and traffic-free drive. It will also help in curbing traffic snarls on the Mathura Road.”

Officers said this will lighten the load on the Mathura Road, overburdened by traffic moving from Uttar Pradesh to Haryana, giving respite to residents of south Delhi’s New Friends Colony, Sukhdev Vihar, Sarita Vihar, and Kalindi Kunj. The corridor will reduce travel time and also give respite to commuters travelling from Noida and Ghaziabad, as they will have the option of avoiding the perennially congested Kalindi Kunj, they said.

One of the traffic police officers cited above said that the expressway’s section in Delhi is nearly nine kilometres long, with about 7.5km elevated and the rest at ground level, including a 140-metre-long structure over the Agra Canal.

The corridor has two entry and exit points in Delhi—one at Jaitpur, nearly 8.2km from the zero point at Sarai Kale Khan-Maharani Bagh, and the second at Meethapur.

An NHAI engineer deployed on the road said, “As of now, we have kept the entry-exit points closed in Delhi during the trials, and only motorists travelling to Faridabad and beyond are being asked to use the corridor. The points may be opened during further trials. Motorists are being asked to maintain a speed of 40kmph.”

A second officer said that two traffic personnel have been deployed at the corridor’s zero point to guide motorists intending to use the route towards Faridabad and Jaipur. The traffic police have also put up banners on the Ring Road and the DND Flyway, informing motorists about the traffic trials.

“Not many motorists used the corridor on the first day of trials on Friday. The number increased on Saturday. However, those who wanted to use the route to reach south Delhi had to drive against the flow of traffic to exit the corridor due to the closure of the exit points at Jaitpur and Meethapur,” the officer said.

The Delhi–Mumbai Expressway (DME), which passes through five states and is expected to reduce on-road travel time, is likely to be completed by 2027–28, Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari had told the Rajya Sabha in December 2025. The original deadline for the 1,350-km expressway, which passes through Haryana (129 km), Rajasthan (373 km), Madhya Pradesh (244 km), Gujarat (426 km) and Maharashtra (171 km), was March 2024.