The 210-kilometre Delhi–Dehradun Expressway, being constructed at a cost of ₹11,868.6 crore, is now expected to open to the public by February 2026, well beyond its original completion target of December 2024, according to a senior official familiar with the project.
The expressway is designed to cut travel time between Delhi and Dehradun from around six hours to just two and a half hours. Earlier, the government had set a revised target of October 2025 for its completion, as mentioned in a Rajya Sabha reply in July.
The new completion date of February 2026 was decided after the Prime Minister’s Office instructed the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to inaugurate the project only after all its phases are fully completed.
The first section, stretching from Delhi’s Akshardham through Geeta Colony, Shastri Park, Mandola Vihar in Ghaziabad, to Khekra in Baghpat, has been ready for over six months. On September 8, during a day of localised flooding in Delhi, several two-wheeler riders removed barriers to use this completed stretch in order to avoid traffic congestion.
Most of the second phase, which begins near Baghpat and extends up to Saharanpur, is also nearing completion, with only finishing work pending on a few segments. The third phase, which involves widening the existing brownfield section from the Saharanpur Bypass to Ganeshpur, is in the final stages of construction.
In the fourth and final phase, precautionary and finishing works are being carried out on the elevated section near Dehradun. According to officials from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), some works were delayed during the monsoon due to flooding in a seasonal river. The remaining tasks, including protection work near the Daat Kali temple, installation of mobile towers, and tunnel finishing, are expected to be completed by November.
The project’s foundation stone was first laid by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on February 26, 2021, followed by another ceremony led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 4, 2021. Starting from Akshardham in Delhi, the expressway passes through Baghpat, Baraut, Shamli, and Saharanpur before reaching Dehradun.
A major highlight of the project is its 12-kilometre elevated corridor passing through Rajaji National Park, which will be the longest such structure in Asia. The expressway also features six animal underpasses, more than 100 underpasses, and five railway overbridges. It will connect to major routes including the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway, the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, and the highways leading to Haridwar and Roorkee.
The project has faced environmental criticism due to large-scale deforestation. According to data shared by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in the Rajya Sabha, 17,913 trees were cut or transplanted for the project. NHAI has said that 50,600 trees are being planted along the expressway and ₹40 crore has been provided to the forest departments of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand for afforestation. In March, the National Green Tribunal fined NHAI for failing to provide complete details regarding compensatory plantation efforts.
