The expressways of India are the highest class of roads in India. As per

NHAI The National Highways Authority of India or NHAI () is an autonomous agency of the Government of India, set up in 1995 (Act 1988) and is responsible for management of a road network of over 50,000 km of National highways out of 1,32,499 ...

and

Indian Roads Congress Indian Roads Congress is the premier technical body of highway engineers which was formed in 1934 as India's national body for laying down and designing standards for roads and highway construction and provides a stage for exchanging expertise and ...

, expressways are access controlled

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

s with a divided carriageway, designed for high speed vehicular movement and heavy traffic. As of December 2024, the total length of expressways in India was , with under construction. In expressways there is a central reservation or median that separates the flow travelling in opposite directions. Entrance and exits are provided only by

grade separated In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights ( grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tr ...

interchanges. The interchanges may be system interchanges (such as cloverleaf,

three-way In human sexuality, a threesome is "a sexual interaction between three people whereby at least one engages in physical sexual behaviour with both the other individuals". While the term ''threesome'' typically refers to sexual activity involvin ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

) used with other national or state highways or be service interchanges (such as SPDI) used with smaller roads. In contrast,

National highways National Highways (NH), formerly Highways England and before that the Highways Agency, is a State-owned enterprise, government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving Roads in England, motorways and major A roads in Eng ...

may or may not be

divided Division is one of the four basic operations of arithmetic. The other operations are addition, subtraction, and multiplication. What is being divided is called the ''dividend'', which is divided by the ''divisor'', and the result is called the ...

by a median and may or may not have access control. Some highways, built by State Governments, which may be fully access controlled or may be limited access controlled, are declared or named as expressways by their respective State Governments. Delhi-Meerut-Express-Highway-India

As of 2024, the longest expressway in India is the partially-opened

Delhi–Mumbai Expressway The Delhi–Vadodra–Mumbai Expressway is a 1,350 km long, 8-lane wide (expandable to 12-lane) under-construction (partially operational) access-controlled expressway connecting India's national capital New Delhi to its financial capital ...

(Phase-III) at , which was opened in December 18, 2024, and the widest expressway is the Delhi –

Gurgaon Gurgaon (), officially named Gurugram (), is a satellite city of Delhi and administrative headquarters of Gurgaon district, located in the northern Indian state of Haryana. It is situated near the Delhi–Haryana border, about southwest ...

section of the

Dwarka Expressway NH 248-BB, also known as Dwarka Expressway, is an existing long opertional, 16-lane, including 8-lane elevated grade separated and 8-lane service road, expressway connecting Dwarka in Delhi to Kherki Daula Toll Plaza at Gurgaon in Haryana. ...

with 16 lanes, which was opened in 2024.

Development and timeline

Greenfield Expressways in India are designed as 12-

lane In road transport, a lane is part of a roadway that is designated to be used by a single line of vehicles to control and guide drivers and reduce traffic conflicts. Most public roads (highways) have at least two lanes, one for traffic in eac ...

wide Expressways with the initial construction of 8 lanes with maximum speed set as 120 km/h for all type of vehicles. Land for 4-lane future expansion is reserved in the center of the expressways. Greenfield Expressways are designed to avoid inhabited areas and go through new alignments to bring development to new areas and to reduce land acquisition costs and construction timelines. The

is an example of a new 12-lane approach with initial 8-lane construction.

Bharatmala The Bharatmala Pariyojna ( 'India garland project') is a project in India implemented by Government of India. It was slated to interconnect 550 District Headquarters (from the current 300) through a minimum 4-lane highway by raising the numbe ...

is an ecosystem of road development which includes tunnels, bridges, elevated corridors, flyovers, overpass, interchanges, bypasses, ring roads etc. to provide shortest & optimized connectivity to multiple places, it is a centrally-sponsored and funded road and highways project of the Government of India with a target of constructing 83,677 km of new highways over the next five years, was started in 2017 as well as conversion of 4 lane highways into 6 lane Brownfield expressways & some state highways into NH/NE. Phase I of the Bharatmala project involves the construction of 34,800 km of highways (including the remaining projects under NHDP) at an estimated cost of

₹ The Indian rupee sign ⟨₹⟩ is the currency symbol for the Indian rupee (ISO 4217: INR), the official currency of India. Designed by D. Udaya Kumar, it was presented to the public by the Government of India on 15 July 2010, following its ...

5.35

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2, 2, 3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. F ...

crore Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...

by 2021–22. ''Brownfield National Highway Project'' is the widening/re-development of existing National Highways. The upgradation of highway is a Brownfield Expressway Project which has high traffic demand and is a part of both rural and urban setup. The upgradation is carried from 4 Lane to 6 Lane on EPC mode such as NH-709A. 43,000 km

state highways A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...

have been converted to National Highways in last 8 years. The majority of the investment required for constructing expressways comes from the

central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or deleg ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

and

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

are the only states which are investing in building expressways through dedicated expressway corporations. The National Highways Authority of India operating under the

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is a ministry of the Government of India, that is the apex body for formulation and administration of the rules, regulations and laws relating to road transport, transport research and in al ...

will be in-charge of the construction and maintenance of expressways. The

National Highways Development Project The National Highways Development Project (NHDP) was a project of four laning of existing national highways and six laning of selected major national highways of India. The project was started in 1998 under the leadership of Prime Minister of I ...

by the government of India aims to expand the country's current expressway network and plans to add an additional 18,637 km of greenfield expressways by 2025 apart from building 4 lane greenfield

national highways National Highways (NH), formerly Highways England and before that the Highways Agency, is a State-owned enterprise, government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving Roads in England, motorways and major A roads in Eng ...

of 50,000 km length. Currently NHDP Phase-6 and NHDP Phase-7 construction is going on along with Bharatmala project. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is set to unveil a plan for constructing ''50,000 km'' of new expressways by 2037 in the first 100 days of the new government.The program, replacing Bharatmala, aligns with Vision 2047 and aims to reduce logistic costs and modernize road infrastructure.

Economic Corridors/Industrial Corridors

Economic Corridors of India or Industrial Corridors of India, 44 corridors were identified and will be taken up in phase-I, they exclude 6 National Corridors, they include:Bharatmala presentation
/ref> 66 inter-corridors (IC) & 116 feeder routes (FR) were identified for Bharatmala. List of 44 economic corridors (EC): * EC-1:

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

* EC-2:

Kanyakumari Kanyakumari (Tamil; / kəɳjɑkʊmɑɾiː/; referring to Devi Kanya Kumari, officially known as Kanniyakumari, formerly known as Cape Comorin) is a town and a municipality in Kanyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the ...

* EC-3:

Amritsar Amritsar, also known as Ambarsar, is the second-List of cities in Punjab, India by population, largest city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportatio ...

Jamnagar Jamnagar () is a city and the headquarters of Jamnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. The city lies just to the south of the Gulf of Kutch, some west of the state capital, Gandhinagar. The city was the capital of Nawanagar State, Na ...

* EC-4:

Kandla Kandla is a census town in the Kutch district of Gujarat state in Western India, near the city of Gandhidham. It occupies on the coast of Gulf of Cutch along the banks of the Kandla Creek. According to the 2011 Census of India, Kandla is t ...

- Sagar * EC-5:

Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

* EC-6:

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

Vijayawada Vijayawada ( ), formerly known by its colonial name Bezawada, is the second largest city and a major commercial hub in the Andhra Pradesh state of India. The city forms an integral part of the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region and is situated on th ...

* EC-7:

Raipur Raipur ( ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Raipur is also the administrative headquarters of Raipur district and Raipur division, and the largest city of the state. It was a part of Madhya Pradesh before the state of Chh ...

Dhanbad Dhanbad is the second-most populated city in the Indian state of Jharkhand after Jamshedpur and a major financial hub of Jharkhand. In terms of economy, Dhanbad has the largest economy in the state of Jharkhand and it is often referred to as th ...

* EC-8:

Ludhiana Ludhiana () is the most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab.164.100.161.224 http://164.100.161.224 › filesPDF Ludhiana State: Punjab Business & Industrial Centre, Tier 2 1 ... The city has an estima ...

Ajmer Ajmer () is a city in the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Ajmer district and Ajmer division. It lies at the centre of Rajasthan, earning it the ...

* EC-9:

Surat Surat (Gujarati Language, Gujarati: ) is a city in the western Indian States and territories of India, state of Gujarat. The word Surat directly translates to ''face'' in Urdu, Gujarati language, Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of t ...

Nagpur Nagpur (; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Nāgapura'') is the second capital and third-largest city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is called the heart of India because of its central geographical location. It is the largest and most populated city i ...

* EC-10:

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

Panaji Panaji (; , , )also known as Panjim, is the capital of the Indian state of Goa and the headquarters of North Goa district. Previously, it was the territorial capital of the former Portuguese India. It lies on the banks of the Mandovi river est ...

* EC-11:

Jaipur Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...

Indore Indore (; ISO 15919, ISO: , ) is the largest and most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The commercial capital of the state, it has been declared as the List of cleanest cities in India, cleanest city of In ...

* EC-12:

Solapur Solapur () is a city located in the south-western region of the States and Territories of India, Indian state of Maharashtra, close to its border with Karnataka. Solapur is located on major highway, rail routes between Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore ...

* EC-13: Sagar-

Varanasi Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.* * * * The city has a syncretic tradition of I ...

* EC-14:

Kharagpur Kharagpur () is a semi- planned urban agglomeration and a major industrial city in the Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Kharagpur subdivision and the largest city of the district. It is located 1 ...

Siliguri Siliguri (, ; ), also known as Shiliguri, is a major Tier ii cities in india, tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms the twin cities, Twin Cities with the neighbouring city of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling district, Darjeel ...

* EC-15:

Visakhapatnam Visakhapatnam (; List of renamed places in India, formerly known as Vizagapatam, and also referred to as Vizag, Visakha, and Waltair) is the largest and most populous metropolitan city in the States and union territories of India, Indian stat ...

* EC-16:

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

* EC-17:

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

Kurnool Kurnool is a city in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It formerly served as the capital of Andhra State (1953–1956). The city is often referred to as "The Gateway of Rayalaseema". Kurnool is also famous for Diamond hunting as diamonds ca ...

* EC-18:

* EC-19:

Madurai Madurai ( , , ), formerly known as Madura, is a major city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District, which is ...

* EC-20:

Mangaluru Mangaluru (), formerly called Mangalore ( ), is a major industrial port city in the Indian state of Karnataka and on the west coast of India. It is located between the Laccadive Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bengaluru, the stat ...

Raichur Raichur, also pronounced as Rāyachūru (formerly Raichore), is a city and headquarters of eponymous Raichur district in the Karnataka state of India. Raichur, located between Krishna River, Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers. History Ancient His ...

* EC-21:

Tuticorin Thoothukudi (formerly called Tuticorin) is a port industrial city in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It lies on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. The city is capital and headquarters of the district. ...

Cochin Kochi ( , ), formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Kerala. The city is also commonly referred to as Ernaku ...

* EC-22:

Bellary Ballari (formerly Bellary) is a city in the Ballari district in state of Karnataka, India. Ballari houses many steel plants such as JSW Vijayanagar, one of the largest in Asia. Ballari district is also known as the ‘Steel city of South Ind ...

Gooty Gooty ( ; Telugu: గుత్తి, transliterated as Guththi) is a town in Anantapur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is the headquarters of Gooty mandal in Anantapur revenue division. The town is renowned for the Gooty ...

* EC-23:

Aurangabad Aurangabad (), officially renamed as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in 2023, is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a ...

* EC-24:

Kanpur Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...

* EC-25:

Tharad Tharad (historically known as Thirpur) is a administrative center of the Vav-Tharad district. The district consists of 134 villages. Tharad is 45kms from international border with Pakistan and 40kms from the state border with the Rajasthan state ...

Phalodi Phalodi is a city in Phalodi district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is the headquarters for Phalodi district. Phalodi is also called the "salt city" due to the salt industry in Rin. Phalodi is in the buffer zone of Thar Desert and ofte ...

* EC-26:

Nagaur Nagaur (also Nagor and Nagore) is a city and municipal council in Nagaur district of the state of Rajasthan in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Nagaur District. The Nagaur city lies about midway between Jodhpur and Bikaner. Na ...

Mandi Dabwali Mandi Dabwali is the hometown of Kanwal Kishore Khetarpal and a town and municipal committee and a Police district in Sirsa district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is located on the border of Haryana and Punjab. It is at a distance of 60&n ...

* EC-27: Sagar-

* EC-28:

Sambalpur Sambalpur () is the fifth largest city in the Indian State of Odisha. It is located on the banks of river Mahanadi, with a population of 335,761 (as per 2011 census). Prehistoric settlements have been recorded there. It is the home of the Samb ...

Paradeep Paradeep, also spelled Paradip (originally Paradweep, also spelled Paradwip), is a major industrial seaport town and municipality, nearly 80 km from Cuttack city, in Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha, India. Paradeep was constituted as an NAC o ...

* EC-29:

Amreli Amreli is a city and a municipality in Amreli district in Indian state of Gujarat. History It is believed that during 534 AD Amreli existed was formerly known as Anumanji, Amlik and then Amravati. The city is named in ancient Gujrati as ''Amar ...

Vadodra Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is a city situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district. The city is named for its abundance of banyan ('' ...

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Godhra Godhra () is a municipality in Panchmahal district in Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Panchmahal district. Originally the name came from ''gou'' which means "cow" and "dhara"- which have two meanings depend ...

Khargone Khargone is a city and administrative headquarters of the Khargone district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The city is located on the bank of the Kunda river and is known for its cotton and chilly (chili pepper) production. It is also ...

* EC-31:

Ranchi Ranchi (; ) is the capital city and also the largest district by population of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern ...

* EC-32:

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

Malappuram Malappuram (also Malapuram) () is a municipality and town in Kerala and the headquarters of the Malappuram district in Kerala, India. It is the List of most populous urban agglomerations in Kerala, 4th largest urban agglomeration in Kerala and ...

* EC-33:

Raisen Raisen is a town and a municipality in Raisen district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of Raisen District. Raisen takes its name from the massive fort at the top of a hill. The town is located at ...

- Pathariya * EC-34:

* EC-35:

Chittaurgarh Chittorgarh (; also Chitror or Chittor or Chittaurgarh) is a major city in the state of Rajasthan in western India. It lies on the Berach River, a tributary of the Banas, and is the administrative headquarters of Chittorgarh District. It wa ...

* EC-36: Bilaspur-

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

* EC-37:

Mahabubnagar Mahbubnagar, also informally called as Palamoor and formerly Rukmammapeta, is a city in Mahbubnagar District of the Indian state of Telangana named after the 6th Nizam of Hyderabad, Mahboob Ali Khan. It is the headquarters of Mahbubnagar m ...

* EC-38:

Nellore Nellore, also spelt as Nelluru, is a city located on the banks of Penna River, in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, India.Ajmer Ajmer () is a city in the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Ajmer district and Ajmer division. It lies at the centre of Rajasthan, earning it the ...

Udaipur Udaipur (Hindi: , ) (ISO 15919: ''Udayapura'') is a city in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, about south of the state capital Jaipur. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Udaipur district. It is the historic capital of t ...

* EC-40:

Sirsa Sirsa is a city and a municipal council in Sirsa district in the westernmost region of the Indian state of Haryana, bordering Punjab and Rajasthan. It is located near the Thar Desert, 250 kilometres north-west of New Delhi and 260 kilometers s ...

* EC-41:

Sirohi Sirohi is a town, located in Sirohi district in southern Rajasthan state in western India. It is the administrative headquarters of Sirohi District and was formerly the capital of the princely state of Sirohi ruled by Deora Chauhan Rajput ...

Beawar Beawar () is a city in Beawar district of Rajasthan, India. Beawar was the financial capital of Merwara state of Rajputana. As of 2011, the population of Beawar city is 151152 (1 lakh fifty one thousand one hundred fifty two). It is located ...

* EC-42:

* EC-43:

* EC-44: North East Corridor

Timeline of total length of Expressways

State-wise overview of expressways

List of operational expressways by state, as of March 2023:

Expressways by NHAI

This list contains expressways built by

National Highways Authority of India The National Highways Authority of India or NHAI () is an autonomous agency of the Government of India, set up in 1995 (Act 1988) and is responsible for management of a road network of over 50,000 km of National highways out of 1,32,499 ...

(NHAI) and declared or named as expressways by

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

. These Expressways are run through one or more states or UTs; some of these are designated with "NE" tag while some are not but both of the types are National Expressways.https://nhai.gov.in/nhai/sites/default/files/2020-08/Doc__3ddfd03e-c_.pdf

Expressways designated with "NE"

Spur Expressways are branch expressways from other expressways.

Economic corridor expressways

These expressways (all built by NHAI) are part of Economic corridors (EC) and have been declared or named as Expressway by

Other inter-state expressways

The following list refers to the expressways which passing through more than one state/UT and connect places from different states/UTs. Bypass or spur expressways are not included in following list.

Other state expressways by NHAI

The following list refers to the expressways built by NHAI to connect areas within the state. Bypass or spur expressways are not included in following list.

Bypass expressways

Bypass Expressways such as

ring road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducin ...

s, bypass roads, freeways and elevated roads are used to bypass city core traffic. These are declared as expressways by

. These direct heavy traffic to the outskirts freeing city roads of traffic. This also allows outside traffic to directly pass the city instead of going through it further limiting traffic within a city.

Expressways declared by state

These expressways are built by State Governments in their respective states and declared as expressways by that State Government, not by