The completion deadline for the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway’s five packages, totaling 140 km between Surat and the Gujarat-Maharashtra border, requires additional acceleration due to delays in construction work, as reported by News18. Almost fifty percent of the work has been completed in the last 25 km segment, which comprises five packages between Surat and Vadodara. The expressway packages spanning Surat to the state border include five sections, with only one experiencing significant delays. Progress rates within two of these packages are less than ten percent, while one package, extending twenty-five kilometers, remains incomplete at below thirty percent. The construction teams have completed approximately fifty percent of the work along a thirty-kilometer stretch.
The expressway in Madhya Pradesh has been completed and is operational, covering approximately 250 km. The main expressway section in Haryana is also fully operational, while the segment underneath the spur is nearing completion and is expected to be ready this year. Several small portions, especially the tunnel developments in Rajasthan, are still under construction. According to government sources who spoke to News18, Rajasthan requires an additional ten to twelve months to complete its expressway section. Officials predict that certain sections of the expressway within Maharashtra will not be completed until the end of 2026.
The 1,386-kilometer-long project is being developed through 53 packages, along with spurs, with selected sections already in operation. According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, as of July 2024, physical work progress had reached 82%, with 26 packages completed. The operational segments of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway currently total 619 kilometers, covering the Delhi-Dausa-Sawai Madhopur, Jhalawar-Ratlam-MP/Gujarat border areas, and the Vadodara-Bharuch stretch. The ministry projected October 2025 as the new completion date, with 1,136 km of the expressway already completed.
The expressway is divided into two major sections: the Delhi-Vadodara stretch (845 km) and the Vadodara-Mumbai stretch (450 km). The Vadodara to Mumbai section through Vadodara was scheduled for completion this month, while the Mumbai to Vadodara segment was originally planned for completion by October 2025. The 90-km DND-Sohna and Jewar section was expected to be completed by July 2025.
Currently, road connections between Delhi and Mumbai operate via NH-48, covering a distance of 1,440 km and experiencing heavy traffic congestion. The new expressway, constructed at a cost of over one lakh crore rupees, will connect economic hubs across Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. It will reduce the total travel distance to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority in Navi Mumbai by approximately 180 kilometers and cut travel time in half.
In July 2024, News18 reported that the partially completed Delhi-Mumbai Expressway was already the longest in India, surpassing the length of all existing expressways in the country even before its full completion.
