Expressways of India
| Expressways of India | |
|---|---|
| System information | |
| Maintained by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways | |
| Length | 6,059 km (3,765 mi) |
| Formed | 2002 |
| Highway names | |
| Expressways | National expressways (NE) (Primary corridors) Economic corridors (EC) (Industrial corridors) State expressways (SE) (Regional corridors) |
| System links | |
The expressways of India are access-controlled toll highways featuring divided carriageways, engineered to support high-speed vehicular movement and to accommodate heavy loads. They constitute the highest class of road infrastructure in the Indian road network. As of December 2024, the total length of expressways in India was 6,059 km (3,765 mi), with 11,127.69 km (6,914.43 mi) under construction.
A central reservation or median separates the traffic moving in opposite directions on expressways. Entry and exits are permitted only through grade separated interchanges. In contrast, National highways may or may not have a median and may lack full access-control. Additionally, some highways constructed by State Governments, which may be fully or partially access-controlled, are designated or named as expressways by the respective State authorities.
Fully opened in April 2002, Mumbai–Pune Expressway was India's first six-lane, access-controlled, inter-city tolled expressway. Spanning 94.5 km (58.7 mi) between Mumbai and Pune, within the state of Maharashtra, it set the benchmark for future expressway development in the country. Since then, expressway construction has significantly accelerated, particularly under the Bharatmala project and other infrastructure programmes both national and regional.
As of 2024, the longest expressway in India is the partially-opened Delhi–Mumbai Expressway (Phase-3), spanning 1,015 km (631 mi), which was inaugurated on 18 December 2024. The widest expressway is the Delhi–Gurgaon section of the Dwarka Expressway, featuring 16 lanes, which was also opened in 2024.