Tiger-Country Tunnel on Delhi-Mumbai Expressway Set to Open by July End
Tap a highlighted term for a quick explanation.
India's longest expressway is inching closer to a major milestone in Rajasthan. A nearly five-kilometre-long tunnel, built through a forested tiger habitat in Kota district, is expected to open to traffic by the end of July, according to a senior official from the National Highways Authority of India.
This tunnel is part of an 8.3-km stretch of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway that passes through the Mukundra Hills. The hills are home to tigers, so engineers had to design the project carefully to avoid disturbing wildlife while still building a modern eight-lane highway underground.
The tunnel itself is huge. At 22 metres wide and 11 metres tall, it ranks among the widest tunnels in India. Building it was technically challenging because the diggers had to cut through a mix of rock types including sandstone, shale, siltstone, mudstone and limestone.
The project did not go smoothly. It was originally meant to be finished in about two and a half years, with a January 2024 deadline. But heavy water seepage and rainfall during excavation caused repeated setbacks. The tunnel site actually flooded in 2022, 2023, and again in 2024, forcing engineers to redesign parts of the structure to suit the sensitive forest environment. As a result, costs rose from Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 1,250 crore.
To protect the tigers and other animals living in the area, the design includes special sections on either side of the underground tunnel, measuring 480 metres and 1,084 metres, that are covered over so wildlife can cross above the highway without being disturbed by traffic below.
Along with the tunnel, another 26-km stretch of the expressway between Sawai Madhopur and Laban in Rajasthan is also set to open by July end. Once both open, the entire Delhi-Rajasthan-Madhya Pradesh portion of the expressway will be fully functional.
Looking ahead, a further 148-km section connecting the Madhya Pradesh-Gujarat border to Vadodara is expected to open by October 2026. That will push the total usable length of the expressway to 912 km, linking Delhi directly to Vadodara.
When fully completed, the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will stretch 1,386 km, making it the longest expressway in India, built at a cost exceeding Rs 1 lakh crore. It is designed to cut travel time between Delhi and Mumbai from about 24 hours to roughly 12 hours, transforming road connectivity between India's political and financial capitals.
Why it matters
The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is one of India's most ambitious infrastructure projects, aiming to roughly halve travel time between two of the country's biggest cities and boost trade and mobility along the route. The Kota tunnel demonstrates how large infrastructure can be engineered to coexist with protected wildlife habitats, an approach that may influence how future highways are built through ecologically sensitive zones. Its completion, despite years of flooding delays and cost overruns, also signals progress toward finishing one of India's most complex and expensive highway projects.
Test yourself
1. What is the length of the tunnel set to open by the end of July?
2. Which protected wildlife species lives in the area the tunnel passes through?
3. What were the tunnel's width and height?
4. Why was the tunnel's construction repeatedly delayed?
5. How much did the project's cost rise to from its original estimate?
6. What design feature was added to let wildlife cross the highway safely?
7. Which companies built the tunnel as a joint venture?
8. Which additional stretch in Rajasthan is also set to open by July end?
9. What will the expressway's total operational length become once the Madhya Pradesh-Gujarat to Vadodara stretch opens?
10. By how much is travel time between Delhi and Mumbai expected to be reduced once the expressway is complete?
Your notes
Source: The Indian Express