New highways set to cut Delhi-Haridwar travel to one hour, boosting tourism and jobs

At the CII National Conference on ‘Highways of India’s Future: Smart, Safe and Sustainable’, Nitin Gadkari detailed how new road projects are slashing travel times to major religious destinations. The Delhi-Dehradun corridor, opened recently, reduced the journey from seven hours to two, and a forthcoming Delhi-Haridwar link is expected to take just one hour. He noted that traffic to the Char Dham sites in Uttarakhand has risen threefold, with 80-85% of that project already finished.

Additional pilgrim routes in Ayodhya and Maharashtra, including the Pandharpur Palkhi Marg, are also being upgraded. Gadkari emphasized that greenfield expressways like the Delhi-Mumbai corridor will connect under-served rural, aspirational and tribal districts in Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and beyond, fostering economic activity, lowering transport costs and generating jobs. He claimed that every Rs 100 spent on infrastructure yields an economic impact of Rs 325, underscoring the sector’s role in the nation’s growth.