Delhi–Dehradun Expressway

The Delhi–Dehradun Expressway, also known as National Highway 72A (NH 72A), is an under-construction, 210 km long, 12/6 lane access-controlled expressway, which will connect Delhi, the national capital of India, with Dehradun, the capital of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It will pass through the states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and will pass through the cities of Baghpat, Baraut, Shamli and Saharanpur. It will have two spurs, or link roads, to ensure connectivity with cities lying nearby to its route: one 50.7 km, six-lane Saharanpur–Roorkee–Haridwar Expressway, and another 121 km, six-lane Ambala-Shamli Expressway. It is being built at a cost of around ₹13,000 crore, and will reduce both travel time and distance, from around 5-6 hours to only 2.5 hours, and from around 280 km to 210 km. It will be completed by January 2024. It connect to Char Dham Highway in Uttarakhand.

Salient features
A 12 km elevated corridor will be constructed over the Rajaji National Park to protect wildlife, thus it will be the second highway in India to have a wildlife protection corridor after NH-44. After completion of this expressway, the distance between the two cities would be reduced from 235 km to 210 km, while journey time would be reduced from 6.5 hours to only 2.5 hours.


 * Length: 210 km
 * Number of lanes: six lanes (extendable to eight lanes)

Construction
The expressway is proposed to developed in three phases:


 * Phase I - brownfield: 32 km, 12-lane stretch between Akshardham (Delhi) and proposed EPE Junction.
 * Phase II - greenfield: between proposed EPE Junction in Delhi and Ganeshpur near Saharanpur bypass.
 * Phase III - greenfield: Expressway Stretch between Ganeshpur near Saharanpur bypass and Dehradun.

Route
This 210 km expressway has two additional spurs.


 * Main route Delhi –Saharanpur–Dehradun Expressway:
 * Delhi-EPE: 12 lanes from Akshardham Temple Delhi to 32 km away intersection at Khekra with Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) near east of Baghpat. 6.4 km from Geeta Colony to Khajoori Khas is elevated.
 * EPE-Saharanpur: 118 km route with six lanes, seven interchanges and 60 underpasses from EPE to Saharanpur east bypass via
 * Mandola Vihar Yojna (Near Mandola Village),
 * Khekra (Baghpat eastern bypass),
 * Lohadda (Baraut eastern bypass),
 * Karaunda Mahajan (intersect NH 709A Karnal-Meerut),
 * Khyawari-Gogwan Jalalpur (just east of Thanabhawan on UP-SH12 Panipat-Muzaffarnagar),
 * Sohanchida Mast at 108 km milestone (spur to Saharanpur-Roorke-Haridwar Expressway),
 * Latifpur Aht (next to Lakhnaur on Saharanpur east bypass, at 119 km).
 * Saharanpur-Rajaji National Park: 40 km route with six lanes from Saharanpur east bypass to Ganeshpur in NH 307 Latifpur Aht at southern entrance of Rajaji National Park.
 * Rajaji National Park–Dehradun: 19.5 km route runs through a two-tube tunnel of total 2.322 km length, then 4.82 km four-lane elevated flyover of 6 m vertical clearance underneath for elephants and wildlife, then 2.12 km at-grade hill route, and 340 m single-tube tunnel.
 * Spurs: two spurs.
 * Ambala-Gangoh-Shamli Expressway part of larger Bareilly-Ludhiana Economic Corridor: This 121.786 km spur is part of 450 km, six-lane Bareilly–Ludhiana Economic Corridor (Bareilly-Ludhiana Expressway), which is partially access-controlled, partially greenfield & rest upgrade of brownfield highway with a March 2026 deadline. It has three sections, 90 km brownfield upgrade NH 44 Ambala-Ludhiana, 121.78 km greenfield Ambala (Sadopur)-Shamli (Gogwan Jalalpur), 220 km greenfield Shamli (Gogwan Jalalpur)-Bareilly. Its future phase is Bareilly-Gorakhpur, which will connect with Siliguri–Gorakhpur Expressway. This spur begins at
 * Sadopur in north of Ambala,
 * Then runs as the northern and eastern bypass (Panjokhra) of Ambala,
 * Southwestern byass of Saha,
 * Southwestern bypass of Barara (with additional spur from Barara to NH 344 by upgrading HR-SH4),
 * Western bypass of Radaur (east of Ladwa Kurukshetra),
 * Chandro (bridge on yamuna), eastern bypass of Gangoh,
 * To Delhi-Saharanpur-Dehradun Expressway at Gogwan Jalalpur just east of Thanabhawan in Shamli district.


 * Saharanpur-Roorke-Haridwar Expressway: 50.7 km route begins at Sohanchida Mast from 108 km milestone of Delhi–Saharanpur–Dehradun Expressway southeast of Saharanpur, forms north bypass to Roorke, and ends at Bahadarabad on Haridwar west ringroad. This will have direct connectivity with the proposed Haridwar International Airport in the south or Haridwar, which will come up by 2030.

Inter-connectivity
This expressway connects with the following:


 * Eastern Peripheral Expressway between Delhi and Baghpat.
 * Ambala-Shamli Expressway
 * Saharanpur-Haridwar Expressway, from southeast of Saharanpur.
 * Delhi Meerut Expressway is starting point of Delhi Dehradun Expressway.

Status updates

 * Feb 2020: Central Government granted in-principle approval for the expressway.
 * Aug 2020: The target completion date set as March 2024.
 * Jan 2021: Tenders awarded for first two phases of Akshardham-Baghpat district border section.
 * Nov 2021: For "Roorkee-Haridwar Expressway" 6-lane spur, ₹ 2,095 crore budget approved by the central government.
 * Dec 2021: Foundation stone for the expressway laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 4 December.
 * Dec 2021: Tender for "Roorkee-Haridwar Expressway" spur awarded to Krishna Constellation.
 * Jan 2022: Tender for Shamli–Ambala Expressway invited.