The actual construction on the 15,000 km of expressways is likely to begin around the 12th Plan period. However, planning, detailed project reports, identification of stretches to be covered and preliminary works will take off during the 11th Plan period.

India’s expressway development is still nothing much to speak of. While neighbouring China already boasts of 50,000 km plus expressways and plans to build another 50,000 km more, India, at present, only has two expressways — 92 km between Mumbai and Pune and 93 km between Vadodara and Ahmedabad. The Vadodara section will be extended up to Mumbai spanning across some 400 km. For the 1,000 km expressways mooted for NHDP VI, the NHAI is looking at feasibility of expressways between high traffic density sections like Delhi-Agra, Delhi-Chandigarh, Delhi-Jaipur, Delhi-Meerut, Chennai-Bangalore and Kolkata-Dhanbad, besides the Vadodara-Mumbai section.