Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday, 4 May chaired a review meeting in New Delhi to assess proposed high-speed corridors, high-density corridors, and key national highway projects planned for Maharashtra, according to an official statement. The meeting covered a wide range of expansion and upgrade initiatives aimed at strengthening road connectivity across the state and adjoining regions.

Key Highway Projects Reviewed

According to the official statement, the review covered several major corridor projects, including the six-laning of the Nagpur–Bhandara section, four-laning of the Taloda–Burhanpur section, and the Durg–Gadchiroli–Mancherial corridor. Other projects discussed included the Gadchiroli–Kanker (Raipur–Visakhapatnam) corridor, the Gwalior–Nagpur corridor, and the Nagpur–Hyderabad corridor.

Additional projects on the agenda included the six-laning of the Bhandara–Raipur section, the Lakhnadon–Durg–Raipur corridor, six-laning of the Nagpur–Amravati section, the Madhya Pradesh–Maharashtra Border–Nagpur Bypass–Borkhedi stretch on NH-44, and the six-laning of the Pune–Satara section.

Nine BOT Projects Spanning 527 km

The meeting also included a review of nine state build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects covering a combined length of 527 km on National Highway stretches in Maharashtra. These projects are:

Shirur–Ahilyanagar (four-lane), Ahilyanagar–Wadala (four-lane), Wadala–Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (four-lane), Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar–Jalna (four-lane), Jalna–Watur (four-lane), Nanded–Narsi–Deglur (four-lane and two-lane), Jam–Warora (four-lane), Warora–Chandrapur–Bamni (four-lane), and Malkapur–Chikhli (two-lane).

The official statement noted that the review was focused on accelerating project planning and execution to strengthen road connectivity and support economic development in the region.

India's Highway Expansion in Context

The meeting comes against the backdrop of a decade-long surge in national highway construction. India's road network has grown to become the world's second-largest, with national highways now spanning 1,46,560 km — a 61% expansion from 91,287 km in 2014 to 1,46,560 km in 2025, according to figures compiled by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

The Union government reportedly constructed 57,125 km of national highways over the last five years, averaging 34,215 lane-km per year. This pace of construction has generated an average annual employment of approximately 33 crore person-days, including direct and indirect employment, according to figures tabled in Parliament.

Expressway Network Growth

Notably, the length of operational access-controlled high-speed corridors and expressways grew from a mere 93 km in 2014 to 3,052 km by end of 2025 — a more than 32-fold increase in just over a decade. The Maharashtra projects reviewed on Monday are expected to contribute further to this network as they advance through planning and execution stages.

With multiple corridors linking Maharashtra to neighbouring states including Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh, the projects are poised to enhance both intra-state and inter-state freight and passenger movement in the coming years.