Overview
- NHAI has pushed the full public launch to early 2027, updating earlier target windows that had slipped.
- About 235 km of roughly 263 km is complete (around 89%), with Karnataka’s 71.7 km fully open to traffic.
- Andhra Pradesh has finished about 78.5 km of its 85 km stretch, while Tamil Nadu has built 84.7 km of 106 km, leaving 28.6 km outstanding.
- Delays stem from land and forest clearances, hard-rock excavation, and a concessionaire’s financial stress; lenders have begun substituting the developer to accelerate work.
- NHAI cut tolls on the operational Karnataka segment by about 15% in mid-February, as union minister Nitin Gadkari’s end-2026, two-hour travel claim diverges from the agency’s early-2027, 2.5–3 hour projection.