Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 210-kilometre Delhi–Dehradun Expressway on April 14 in Dehradun, along with Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari. This will reduce the travel time from six hours to two and a half hours.
The project built at a cost of ₹11,868.6 crore was initially slated for completion by December 2024. It passes through Baghpat, Baraut, Shamli, and Saharanpur. The project’s foundation stone was first laid by Gadkari on February 26, 2021, and PM Modi laid another foundation stone on December 4, 2021.
The first 32-km stretch of this project from Delhi, including Akshardham through Geeta Colony, Shastri Park, Mandola Vihar in Ghaziabad, to Khekra in Baghpat had been ready for mid-2025, and was opened to public in December 2025.
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According to officials, this stretch will alleviate some congestion in East Delhi.
The expressway has more than 100 underpasses, five railway over bridges, and will link with the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway, the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, and routes to Haridwar and Roorkee.
A key feature of the project is its 12-km elevated wildlife corridor through Rajaji National Park, with six animal underpasses to facilitate safe wildlife movement.
In July 2025, the government told the Rajya Sabha that 17,913 trees were felled or transplanted for the expressway. As a mitigation measure, NHAI said 50,600 trees were being planted within the right-of-way and ₹40 crore given to UP and Uttarakhand forest departments.
The expressway is divided into four phases:
Phase 1: Starts at Akshardham Temple (Delhi) to Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) near Baghpat (32 km, 12 lanes).
Phase 2: EPE to Saharanpur Bypass (118 km, 6 lanes, 7 interchanges, 60 underpasses).
Phase 3: Saharanpur Bypass to Ganeshpur (40 km, 6 lanes).
Phase 4: Ganeshpur to Dehradun (20 km, 4-6 lanes, includes twin tunnels and elevated flyover for wildlife).
