A Delhi-Haridwar road project is expected to open in November 2026 and could bring the journey time to one and a half hours, India’s road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari said on October 27.

Key Takeaways

  • Gadkari said the road project was due to open the following month; it has not yet opened.
  • The minister said the Char Dham road project was 80–85% complete.
  • He cited government projects worth ₹1 lakh crore related to religious tourism and ₹2 lakh crore in tunnel projects.

Delhi-Haridwar road and travel times

Speaking at a Confederation of Indian Industry highways conference, Gadkari said the planned opening would improve connectivity to Haridwar, a religious destination in Uttarakhand.

He also said the recently opened Delhi-Dehradun corridor had reduced the journey between those cities from seven hours to two. The projected one-and-a-half-hour Delhi-Haridwar journey is an estimate for after the new project opens, not a reported current travel time.

Tourism and wider road investment

Gadkari said traffic from Delhi to the religious destinations of Badrinath and Kedarnath had increased threefold as work progressed on the Char Dham road project. He said better road links could bring more visitors and support tourism employment.

The minister also pointed to the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway as a way to connect rural and tribal districts with economic centres. He named districts including Alwar and Dausa in Rajasthan, Ratlam and Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh, and Dahod in Gujarat.

Gadkari said road construction creates jobs and demand for materials and machinery, while improved connections could reduce transport costs. These were the minister’s assessments of potential economic benefits.

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