Nearly 25,000 km of expressway will be expanded to four lanes at Rs 1 million: Nitin Gadkari

Nitin Gadkari. File | Image source: PTI

“The country has a total of 25,000 km of two-lane expressways that will be converted into four lanes at a price of Rs 1,000 crore, which will help greatly reduce accidents on the road,” United Road Transport and Highway Minister Nitin Gadkari said in Lok Sabha on Thursday (27 March 2025).

Mr Gardkari also said that the 16,000 km national highway would also be converted into 6 lanes at a speed of Rs 6 lanes.

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“We plan to convert a 25,000km two-lane expressway into a four-lane expressway at a cost of Rs 1 million. The project is ready, the DPRS (detailed project report) is ready and we hope to complete the work within two years,” he said during the questionnaire.

The minister said the government will prioritize these projects and once completed, the number of road accidents is expected to be significantly reduced.

A few weeks ago, Mr. Gardkari said that India has an accident of 480,000 people every year, resulting in 188,000 deaths between the ages of 18 and 45. He also noted that the country is losing 3% of its GDP due to road accidents, stressing that by 2030, the government hopes to reduce misfortunes on the road by 50%.

Mr. Gadkari also said in the House of Commons that the Modi government has listed road development in Jamu and Kashmir, northeastern states and hilly states such as Himaal Pradesh and Uttarakhand as its highest priority.

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He said road construction is underway in Jamu & Kashmir, where 105 tunnels are being built for easy travel.

The minister said the government also built a tunnel in Zojila, which will be the longest in Asia and is located in the zero temperature zone. He said initially, the tunnel had been built in excess of Rs 120,000 crore, but it was completed at only Rs 55 billion.

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Mr. Gardkari also invited Speaker Om Birla and other MPs to visit the site to see the engineering miracle of the Zojila tunnel. He said work on the Jamu-Srinagar highway is also underway, with 36 tunnels to be built, of which 22 of the works have been completed.

He said that once the work is done, the travel time between Jamu and Srinagar will be reduced to three to three and a half hours instead of the current seven hours.

The minister said work on the expressway between Delhi-Katra is also underway and once completed, the travel time between the two places will be reduced to the current 12 hours.