A 9-km elevated stretch connecting the DND Flyway with Jaitpur has opened for trial runs, completing Delhi's direct link to the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway. According to reports from CNBC TV18, the trial began on August 22 and is expected to continue for approximately one month before the road is formally commissioned. Nearly 8.5 km of the 9-km section is elevated, providing motorists from parts of Delhi, Noida and Ghaziabad direct access to the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway during the trial period. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has started trial operations to assess road safety, traffic management and operational arrangements before its formal opening, with motorists asked to maintain a 40 kmph speed during the trial phase. The stretch's opening adds to a series of phased rollouts of the expressway that have taken place over the past two years as different sections near completion.
The new link could significantly reduce travel time between key destinations. As reported by CNBC TV18, the journey between DND and Faridabad could take around 20 minutes on the new route, compared with more than 30 minutes through the existing Ashram-Badarpur stretch. The route is also expected to provide a smoother journey towards Jaipur and Sawai Madhopur. Traffic heading towards Faridabad, Ballabhgarh and Sohna could therefore shift to the new expressway link, potentially easing pressure on the Ring Road and Mathura Road corridors. The opening is expected to reduce pressure on busy routes around Ashram, Kalindi Kunj and Mathura Road, offering an alternative route for Faridabad-bound traffic. The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is India's longest expressway project, designed to significantly cut travel time between the two cities once fully operational, with the expressway expected to reduce travel time between the two cities from roughly 24 hours to around 12 hours once complete.
The new stretch is part of the 59-km DND-Faridabad-KMP (Kundli-Manesar-Palwal) link, which connects the DND Flyway with the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway through the Jaitpur-KMP interchange. According to CNBC TV18, around 50 km of the Delhi link had already been opened in phases, making the DND-Jaitpur stretch the remaining key connection. The corridor also includes a structure over the Agra Canal, with entry and exit points developed at Jaitpur and Meethapur, although these points are currently closed during the trial period. The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway was originally planned to run from Sohna to Jawaharlal Nehru Port near Mumbai, but the alignment was later extended towards the DND Flyway to provide a direct connection with Delhi. The expressway passes through six states along its full length, making it one of the largest single infrastructure undertakings by the NHAI in recent years, being built as a greenfield access-controlled corridor with higher design speeds along most of its length. Once the full DND-to-Jaitpur link is opened to the public, commuters heading toward Faridabad and further south are expected to see reduced congestion at some of the more heavily trafficked junctions in the area.
The next major milestone is the completion of the expressway network further south. As reported by The Times of India, NHAI officials said the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is likely to become fully operational up to Vadodara by December 2026. This would provide continuous expressway connectivity from Delhi through the completed sections towards Vadodara. Additionally, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is developing the DND-Faridabad-Sohna Access Controlled Highway to provide seamless access to both Noida International Airport and the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, with the revised estimated cost of the Faridabad-Noida International Airport link at ₹3,631 crore. The development is significant for Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan, as improved connectivity through the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is expected to strengthen regional road links and facilitate faster movement between major cities and economic centres.
