Expansion Of 16,000-Km Two-Lane Highways Into Four Lanes Underway: Nitin Gadkari

These projects are expected to be finished in a phased manner by the end of financial year 2028, the minister of road transport and highways says.

Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari speaking in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, March 27, 2025 (Photo: Sansad TV/X)

Nearly 16,000 kilometres of two-lane highways in the country are under construction to be converted into four-lane highways, Union minister Nitin Gadkari told the Lok Sabha on Thursday.

This is expected to incur an expenditure of nearly Rs 6 lakh crore. These projects are expected to be finished in a phased manner by the end of financial year 2028, the minister of road transport and highways said in a written reply during Question Hour.

The statement came in a response to Bhartiya Janata Party MP Anup Dhotre's question on whether Maharashtra could expect a widening of the two-lane highways spanning nearly 10,300 km in the state into four-lane highways.

For a two-lane highway to qualify for development into four-lane, the criteria has been updated from 10,500 passenger car units, a metric used to measure traffic flow on roads, to 10,000 PCUs, according to Gadkari.

Similarly, four-laners will see criteria reduced from 22,500 PCU to 20,000 PCUs to be converted into six-lane highways, and the six-laners will be redeveloped into eight-lane highways if they have a PCU of 30,000 as compared to the stipulated 34,000 earlier, he said. "In the coming two years, two-lane to four-lane expansion of nearly 25,000 km worth Rs 10 lakh crore is being approved."

A detailed project report for 3,500 km has been created, and a report for the remaining 21,500 km is under progress. This work will be undertaken on a priority basis, he added.

Also Read: Nearly 13-Lakh Refunds Made For Faulty Toll Collections On National Highways In 2024

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Divya Prata
Divya Prata is a desk writer at NDTV Profit, covering business and market n... more
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