Overview
- Reports on June 17 say the 4.9 kilometre twin‑tube, eight‑lane tunnel near Kota is complete and the full 1,386 km expressway is set to open for traffic on June 20 subject to final safety clearances.
- The tunnel is India’s first eight‑lane road tunnel, took about four and a half years to build, and was routed beneath the protected Mukundara Hills tiger reserve to avoid surface disruption to wildlife.
- The corridor was built in 52 construction packages across six states, required nearly 15,000 hectares of land and cost about Rs 1 lakh crore including land acquisition.
- Once open end to end the access‑controlled road is expected to cut Delhi–Mumbai travel from more than 24 hours to roughly 12 hours, link Jewar and Navi Mumbai airports and terminate at JNPT to speed freight movement.
- Planned features include 93 wayside amenity locations, EV charging, trauma centres with helipads every 100 km, wildlife crossings and space in the median to expand from eight to 12 lanes, with the opening still contingent on certification.