Big news for people traveling between Vadodara and Mumbai. The Mumbai-Vadodara section of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is fast approaching completion and the entire Maharashtra section is planned to be opened to traffic by August 31, 2026. After the commencement of this section, the travel time from Vadodara to Mumbai may come down to just 4 hours from the present around 8 hours. However, an official announcement from NHAI regarding the final date is still pending.
Claim to open by August 31
According to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the entire stretch of Delhi-Mumbai Expressway in the state is planned to open for traffic by August 31, 2026. The Mumbai-Vadodara Expressway is approximately 157 km long and its construction cost approximately Rs. 24,000 crore is being spent. Five of the seven construction packages of the project have been completed and are said to be ready for traffic. Work is going on to complete the rest of the package quickly.
Vadodara to Mumbai in just 4 hours?
Once the Mumbai-Vadodara section becomes operational, the road travel time between the two cities will reduce significantly. Currently, it takes around 8 hours to reach Mumbai from Vadodara, while the distance is likely to be covered in around 4 hours once the new access-controlled expressway is fully operational. A few sections including Vadodara-Bharuch in Gujarat are already operational, while the remaining sections in Maharashtra will speed up overall connectivity. This project can prove to be important especially for trade, industry and daily commuters.
A mega highway connecting five states
The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is among the country’s ambitious infrastructure projects. About 1,400 km long, this 8-lane access-controlled highway connects Delhi-NCR with the industrial areas of Gujarat and Maharashtra. This corridor passes through Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The road travel time from Delhi to Mumbai is also expected to come down significantly to around 12 hours after the full project is commissioned. The expressway will also provide important connectivity to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority.
Several sections are also functioning in Gujarat
Several important stretches of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway in Gujarat are already open to traffic. A stretch of about 55 km from Limkheda to Godhra was also opened for trial. This section from Hathidara village interchange to Godhra interchange comes under package 27 and 28 of the project. Package 27 covers an area of approximately 29.19 km and package 28 covers an area of 26 km. However, some minor construction and security related works are still reported to be ongoing. Now if the rest of Maharashtra opens as per the August 31 deadline, Vadodara-Mumbai travel is expected to become faster and easier
