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Planning a quick spiritual retreat or a weekend road trip to Haridwar is poised to become significantly breezier, with travel time from Delhi expected to shrink from the current three to four hours to just 90 minutes over the next one to two months.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) national conference on highways, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari announced that an upcoming expressway project connecting Delhi and Haridwar is nearing completion.<\/p>\n
The rapid link follows the operationalisation of the Delhi-Dehradun Greenfield Expressway corridor, which brought travel time between Delhi and the Uttarakhand capital down to roughly two hours from an earlier six to seven hours. Gadkari pointed out that the central government’s highway expansion is geared toward boosting pilgrimage tourism and regional footfall, pointing to corridors like the Delhi-Meerut expressway\u2014which cut journey times to 45 minutes\u2014and Delhi to Jaipur, which now takes around two hours.<\/p>\n
The minister also shared progress on regional connectivity across the Himalayan belt, noting that 80 to 85% of the \u20b9<\/span>12,000-crore Char Dham road project has been completed. Improved accessibility along these routes has already led to a threefold increase in passenger traffic moving from Delhi toward major pilgrim centres including Badrinath and Kedarnath. Similar religious tourism corridors are under development in Ayodhya and Maharashtra, including the Pandharpur Palkhi Marg.<\/p>\n Alongside travel efficiency, highway oversight is being tightened to ensure smoother ride quality across the national network. Gadkari warned that contractors and officials compromising on construction standards face penalties and blacklisting. Pavement conditions are now monitored through high-speed Network Surveillance Vehicles using sensors and artificial intelligence portals to map road quality and eliminate potholes, with the minister reporting an initial 30% decline in reported defect issues.<\/p>\n Also Read: Arunachal to host global tourism mart, buyers expected from US, UK, Russia<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n