Delhi-Mumbai Expressway's 8-Lane Mukundra Hills Tunnel to Open by End of July
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is set to open a critical 4.89-kilometer-long, eight-lane tunnel through the Mukundra Hills in Rajasthan's Kota district by the end of July. The opening of this tunnel, along with an adjacent 26-kilometer section from Sawai Madhopur to Laban, will make the entire Delhi, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh section of the 1,386-kilometer Delhi-Mumbai Expressway fully operational.
A senior NHAI official confirmed that the tunnel is ready for operation, with only a few final safety works currently ongoing. Located between Ummedpura and Nayagaon villages in Kota, the tunnel is one of the widest in India, measuring 22 meters wide and 11 meters high. It passes through various rock masses and substrata, including sandstone, shale, siltstone, mudstone, and limestone.
The tunnel is part of an 8.3-kilometer section that cuts through a sensitive tiger habitat in the Mukundra Hills. To protect the wildlife, the project includes 480-meter and 1,084-meter "cut and cover" sections on either side of the tunnel. These camouflaged portions are designed to allow animals to cross over the highway without any disturbance.
Constructed as a joint venture between Dilip Buildcon Limited and Altis-Holding Corporation, the project was originally scheduled for completion in January 2024. However, it faced significant delays due to excavation challenges, including heavy water ingress and heavy rainfall. The tunnel submerged during the rainy seasons of 2022, 2023, and 2024, requiring redesigns to accommodate the eco-sensitive nature of the region.
These challenges also led to a project cost revision. The budget for the tunnel section was revised from Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 1,250 crore.
Once the entire 1,386-kilometer Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is complete, it will be the longest expressway in India, built at an estimated cost of over Rs 1 lakh crore. The completed expressway is expected to slash travel times between Delhi and Mumbai from 24 hours to just 12 hours.
Prior to this upcoming launch, several other sections of the expressway had already been opened to traffic. The first 246-kilometer stretch connecting Delhi, Dausa, and Lalsot opened on February 12, 2023. Other operational stretches include the 100-kilometer Laban-Gopalpura section, the 25-kilometer Chechat-Jhalawar section, the 224-kilometer Jhalwar-Ratlam-MP and Gujarat border section, and the 67-kilometer Bandikui-Jaipur section.
Following the opening of the Kota tunnel, the next major milestone will be a 148-kilometer stretch from the Madhya Pradesh-Gujarat border to Vadodara, which is scheduled to become operational by October 2026. This will bring the total operational length of the expressway to 912 kilometers from Delhi to Vadodara.
