New Delhi: India has rapidly expanded its road infrastructure over the past 11 years to become the world’s second-largest highway network, with national highways now stretching across 1,46,560 km, an official announcement said on Tuesday.
The expansion has been driven by a series of flagship government initiatives, including the Bharatmala Pariyojana (which subsumed the National Highways Development Programme), the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for the North East (SARDP-NE), the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) Road Development Programme—covering projects such as the Vijayawada–Ranchi Road—and several externally aided projects.
According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), the national highway network has grown by about 61 per cent, increasing from 91,287 km in 2014 to 1,46,560 km in 2025.
Significant progress has also been made in high-speed infrastructure. The length of operational access-controlled corridors and expressways has increased from just 93 km in 2014 to 3,052 km by the end of 2025. Similarly, the length of four-lane and wider national highways, including access-controlled corridors, has more than doubled from 18,371 km in 2014 to 43,512 km at present.
To support infrastructure financing, MoRTH has cumulatively monetised assets worth Rs 1,52,028 crore through various monetisation models up to November 2025 and has set a target of Rs 30,000 crore for the financial year 2025–26. In order to attract greater private participation, Model Concession Agreements (MCAs) have been updated, and the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) system has been comprehensively revamped for the first time since 2007–08.
The Ministry also plans to widen the investment base by introducing the Public InvIT—Raajmarg InvIT. Approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is under process, with issuance scheduled for January 2026.
Aligned with the Union Budget 2025–26, MoRTH has identified a public-private partnership (PPP) pipeline of 13,400 km of projects, estimated at Rs 8.3 lakh crore, to be developed over the next three years. In addition, 35 Multimodal Logistics Parks are planned under Bharatmala Pariyojana, with an investment of about Rs 46,000 crore. Once operational, these parks are expected to handle nearly 700 million metric tonnes of cargo.
To enhance user comfort, the Ministry plans to develop state-of-the-art wayside amenities at intervals of 40–60 km along national highways under the PPP model. Under the Parvatmala Pariyojana, it also envisages the development of safe, efficient and world-class ropeway infrastructure to improve connectivity, reduce urban congestion and enhance last-mile logistics in hilly regions.
Among major developments in 2025, the Prime Minister inaugurated the 12-km-long Sonamarg Tunnel in Jammu and Kashmir, built at a cost of over Rs 2,700 crore. He also inaugurated and laid foundation stones for multiple road projects at Katra, including the Rafiabad–Kupwara national highway widening project worth more than Rs 1,952 crore. Landmark urban decongestion projects such as the Dwarka Expressway and Urban Extension Road-II (UER-II) were also inaugurated in Delhi.
As part of the clean energy push, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways flagged off India’s first-ever trials of hydrogen-powered heavy-duty trucks, developed by Tata Motors, in New Delhi.
The Cashless Treatment of Road Accident Victims Scheme, 2025 was notified on a pan-India basis, providing treatment coverage of up to Rs 1.5 lakh per victim at designated hospitals nationwide. Vehicle safety standards were further strengthened through mandatory High Security Registration Plates (HSRP) and advanced provisions related to Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) in new vehicles.
MoRTH has also operationalised 123 Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facilities across 21 States and Union Territories, along with 160 Automated Testing Stations across 19 States and Union Territories. Cumulatively, 3.58 lakh vehicles have been scrapped up to November 2025.
Under the Rah-Veer Scheme, the financial incentive for Good Samaritans was increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000 per incident, with 10 national-level awards of Rs 1 lakh each to be given annually. The BhoomiRashi Portal was introduced to enable end-to-end digitisation of highway land acquisition, with PFMS-linked direct compensation to improve transparency and efficiency.
The Ministry also launched a FASTag-based annual pass for non-commercial vehicles, priced at Rs 3,000 for 200 toll plaza crossings. So far, 36.13 lakh passes have been sold, generating Rs 1,084 crore in user fee collections up to November 2025. Additionally, the government has decided to implement barrier-free electronic toll collection using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras on select national highway stretches, enabling seamless tolling alongside FASTag.
With inputs from IANS