The first major opening of the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway was a road into Rajasthan. On 12 February 2023, Narendra Modi dedicated the 246-km Delhi–Dausa–Lalsot section, built at an official cost of more than ₹12,150 crore. The new stretch offered a faster approach towards Jaipur; it did not complete an expressway journey to Mumbai. [1]
The larger project was planned as approximately 1,386 km including its connecting spurs. Its purpose was to move long-distance traffic onto a controlled-access route and connect economic centres across western India. The finished sections therefore have value before the whole route is continuous, but their openings need to be read separately from the full-project promise. [1] [2]
One corridor, many contracts
The construction programme was divided into 53 packages. A July 2024 parliamentary reply reported 26 completed packages and 1,136 km constructed as of that June, alongside 82% physical progress. The figures described different aspects of the same programme. Constructed kilometres did not automatically mean that every kilometre was available as a connected public route. [2]
That reply set October 2025 as the revised completion target. Later opening records show the programme continuing beyond it. The 87-km Vadodara–Bharuch section had been inaugurated in February 2024; on 5 June 2026, two further Gujarat sections, Kim–Ena and Gandeva–Ena, were inaugurated. [2] [3]
The June transport-ministry account gave those newer sections as 36 km and 27.5 km respectively. Their delivery extended usable infrastructure along the corridor, without establishing that every intervening section and metropolitan approach was finished. [3]
The journey promised and the journey available
The original opening announcement projected a roughly 12-hour Delhi–Mumbai trip once the larger scheme was delivered. That forecast should not be applied to a drive using only its first section. In its October 2026 infrastructure factsheet, the government still described the expressway as being developed to achieve the shorter journey. [1] [5]
For individual travellers and freight operators, the useful question is which continuous stretch connects their entry and exit points. Spurs, interchanges and approach roads determine how an operating section fits into the rest of a journey. A project-length headline is not itself an itinerary.
Maintaining the new road
The construction record also includes defects on sections already in use. In September 2024, the ministry acknowledged distress on Package 9 of the Delhi–Vadodara portion. It imposed a ₹50-lakh penalty on the contractor for delayed attention, announced action against supervisory staff and commissioned expert investigation. [4]
The ministry said temporary rectification had been undertaken during continuing rain, with permanent work to follow. That is a dated repair account, rather than evidence that the same location remained defective indefinitely. It also shows why opening and maintenance belong in the same infrastructure story. [4]
By 2026, more sections had joined the operating network. The corridor’s history was still being written through individual openings, repairs and the connections needed to turn separate lengths of road into one journey. [3] [5]