The Delhi section of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway has opened for trial runs, allowing commuters to travel from the DND Flyway towards Faridabad and, eventually, Jaipur. The trial, expected to last about a month, is part of preparations before the stretch is formally inaugurated.
Trial Run Begins on Delhi-Mumbai Expressway Section
The trial began on Friday on the carriageway leading towards Faridabad via Jaitpur and Meethapur, according to reports from Hindustan Times and Livemint, which cited three senior traffic police officers. Commuters can enter the corridor through the Ring Road and DND Flyway at Sarai Kale Khan-Maharani Bagh. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has not officially announced the trial run, but an agency official said the road is ready for public use on a trial basis.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Dinesh Kumar Gupta said, "The trials are being conducted to assess the road and traffic arrangements before full opening. As of now, the trials are only on the carriageway going towards Faridabad via Jaitpur. We will start the trials on the opposite carriageway soon." He added that once operational, the corridor is expected to give commuters travelling towards Faridabad and Jaipur from Delhi and Noida a smooth and traffic-free drive and help curb traffic snarls on Mathura Road.
Route Details and Infrastructure
The Delhi portion under trial is nearly 9 km long, with around 7.5 km built as an elevated road, according to traffic officials cited by Hindustan Times and Livemint. The remaining section is at ground level and includes a 140-metre structure crossing the Agra Canal. The Economic Times and The Times of India reported that nearly 8.5 km of the stretch between DND Flyway and Jaitpur is elevated.
The corridor has two entry and exit points in Delhi, at Jaitpur and Meethapur. The Jaitpur entry-exit point is nearly 8.2 km from the zero point at Sarai Kale Khan-Maharani Bagh, a detail reported by one outlet. Both entry-exit points are currently closed during the trials, and motorists are being asked to maintain a speed of 40 kmph, as per an NHAI engineer cited in multiple reports. Traffic police have deployed personnel at the zero point, and banners have been put up on the Ring Road and the DND Flyway to inform motorists about the trials.
Not many motorists used the corridor on the first day of the trials on Friday, but the number increased on Saturday, according to Hindustan Times and Livemint. A traffic officer said that some drivers wanting to reach south Delhi had to drive against the flow of traffic to exit the corridor due to the closure of the exit points.
Expected Benefits for Commuters
The new route is expected to ease pressure on Mathura Road, which carries heavy traffic between Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, and provide an alternative for commuters travelling from Delhi, Noida and Ghaziabad towards Haryana and Rajasthan, as reported by multiple sources. Residents of south Delhi's New Friends Colony, Sukhdev Vihar, Sarita Vihar and Kalindi Kunj could benefit from the additional route, and commuters from Noida and Ghaziabad may be able to avoid the frequently congested Kalindi Kunj crossing.
A regular commuter to Faridabad from east Delhi, Rohit Singha, told The Times of India that traffic bound for Faridabad, Ballabhgarh and Sohna is expected to shift to the expressway from the congested Ring Road and Mathura Road routes. He said the new stretch cuts travel time from DND Flyway to Faridabad to around 20 minutes, compared with more than 30 minutes currently required between Ashram and the Badarpur border.
The trial opening allows motorists to use the corridor before its formal commissioning. Officials said trial runs are conducted only after construction is completed and safety audits are carried out, and commuters are not charged toll during this period. The exercise allows NHAI to identify and rectify any deficiencies before the stretch is formally commissioned.
Connection to the Wider Expressway Network
The newly opened stretch completes Delhi's connection to the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, making Delhi fully connected to the country's longest access-controlled expressway, as reported by The Times of India and The Economic Times. The Jaitpur-KMP interchange section has already been opened to traffic, and officials said 50 km of the 59-km Delhi link from DND Flyway to the expressway's junction with the KMP Expressway had already been opened in phases before this stretch.
Motorists from east and south Delhi, Noida and Ghaziabad can now access the expressway directly and travel without interruption to Jaipur and Sawai Madhopur. The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway was originally planned to run from Sohna to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) near Mumbai, but in August 2018, NHAI proposed extending the alignment to DND Flyway to ensure the corridor began from Delhi itself, according to The Times of India.
At a recent review meeting chaired by Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari, NHAI officials said the expressway is likely to become fully operational up to Vadodara by December, as reported by The Times of India. The Union Cabinet also approved a modified alignment in March that includes an 11-km elevated stretch between Faridabad and Noida International Airport at a revised cost of Rs 3,631 crore.
The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway passes through five states and is likely to be completed by 2027-28, with the original deadline having been March 2024, as Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari told Rajya Sabha in December 2025, according to one Hindustan Times report.