Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday, 9 July 2026, conducted an on-ground inspection of multiple packages of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway corridor, covering stretches across Delhi, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh. The review spanned the early sections of the expressway — from the DND-Sohna Access Controlled Highway in Delhi to several Delhi-Vadodara Expressway packages, including the landmark 8-lane Mukundara twin tunnel in Rajasthan.

Context

Gadkari posted on X confirming he had personally inspected a sweeping range of packages: Packages 2 through 5 of the Delhi-Vadodara Expressway in Delhi, followed by Packages 6 through 15 in Rajasthan — including the Mukundara Hills 8-lane twin road tunnel — and Packages 16, 17, and 18 in Madhya Pradesh. The post was tagged under #PragatiKaHighway ('Highway of Progress'), #GatiShakti, #DelhiMumbaiExpressway, and #MukundaraHillsTunnel, signalling the government's framing of the project as a flagship connectivity achievement.

The minister tagged Bhajanlal Sharma (Chief Minister of Rajasthan), Diya Kumari (Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan), and Om Birla (Speaker of the Lok Sabha and MP from Kota, Rajasthan) — all key political stakeholders in the Rajasthan segment of the corridor.

Policy Backdrop

The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is a 1,350-km access-controlled corridor designed to reduce travel time between the two cities to approximately 12 hours. It is a centrepiece of the Bharatmala Pariyojana, the central government's flagship highway development programme approved by the Cabinet in 2017. Construction on various packages began in 2018, with work executed through the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

The project is also integrated into the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan, launched in 2021, which coordinates multimodal infrastructure development across ministries and states. The Delhi-Vadodara Expressway — spanning roughly 800 km across Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh — forms the northern and central spine of this larger corridor.

Stakeholders and Impact

The Mukundara Hills tunnel, one of the most technically complex sections of the alignment, passes through a protected wildlife zone in Rajasthan, making its completion a significant engineering and environmental milestone. Freight transporters and logistics operators stand to gain substantially from the corridor, as reduced travel times are expected to lower logistics costs — a stated national priority under the Gati Shakti framework.

Highway users in Delhi's southern periphery will benefit from the DND-Sohna Access Controlled Highway, which serves as the expressway's entry point from the capital. The involvement of Rajasthan's top political leadership — tagged directly by Gadkari — underscores the state government's stake in timely delivery of the Rajasthan packages.

What's Next

The inspection of packages spanning three states in a single visit suggests the Ministry is conducting a comprehensive progress review ahead of a potential milestone announcement. Attention will now turn to the completion status of the remaining packages and any revised timelines for the full operationalisation of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway end-to-end. With the Mukundara twin tunnel and the Madhya Pradesh packages among the last major engineering challenges on the corridor, their commissioning will be a critical indicator of the project's overall delivery trajectory.