Indian Expressways

Indian Expressways

An expressway is a controlled-access highway; it is a highway that controls entrances to it and exits from it by incorporating the design of the slip roads for entry and exit into the design of the highway itself. Access-control should not be confused with collection of toll. An expressway may be free to use and may not collect toll at all. Expressways are the highest class of roads in the Indian Road Network. These are six- or eight-lane highways with controlled-access. India has approximately 942 km expressways.

National Highway system of India consists of approximately 10,000 km (6,200 mi) of four-laned highways that collect toll from users but do not have control of access and cannot be called expressways. Currently, a massive project is underway to expand the highway network and the Government of India plans to add an additional 18,637 km (11,580 mi) of expressways to the network by the year 2022. These roads will be access-controlled roads and will feature between four and six lanes with 3,530 km (2,190 mi) km to come up by 2015. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is already in the process of preparing a draft for creation of a National Expressways Authority of India (NEAI) on the lines of NHAI.