From Dehradun, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Tuesday inaugurate the 210-km Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, which the government said will reduce travel time from six hours to two-and-a-half hours.
Also known as NH709B, it is a new cost-built project $11,868.6 crore, was initially scheduled to be completed by December 2024 and passes through Baghpat, Barot, Shamli and Saharanpur. The foundation stone for the project was first laid on February 26, 2021 by Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, who will also be present at the inauguration ceremony. Later, Modi laid another foundation stone on December 4, 2021.
“It gives us great pleasure that the Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor will be inaugurated in Dehradun. This corridor will significantly reduce the travel time between Delhi and Dehradun and will benefit the people of Delhi-NCR, UT and Uttarakhand,” PM Modi posted on X.
The first 32-km stretch of this project from the Delhi side – Akshardham via Geeta Colony, Shastri Park and Mandola Vihar in Ghaziabad, to Khakra in Baghpat – will be opened to the public in December 2025. According to officials, this stretch will ease some congestion in east Delhi.
The expressway has over 100 tunnels, five railway over bridges, and will connect with the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, and the roads leading to Haridwar and Roorkee.
A key feature of the project is the construction of a 12-kilometre elevated wildlife corridor through Rajaji National Park, equipped with six animal corridors to facilitate safe movement of wildlife. A recent study by the Wildlife Institute of India, commissioned by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), said that these tunnels are widely used by wild animals as intended. A total of 40,444 wildlife were detected from more than 111,000 images taken using 150 camera traps over 40 days, the study said.
Meanwhile, the project has been criticized for deforestation. In a Rajya Sabha reply in July 2025, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said a total of 17,913 trees had been cut or planted. As a mitigation measure, NHAI said 50,600 trees are being planted within the right-of-way and $Rs 40 crore has been given to the forest departments of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
In March 2025, the National Green Tribunal fined NHAI for failing to submit afforestation details.
