Golden Quadrilateral

The Golden Quadrilateral is a highway network connecting India's four largest metropolises: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, thus forming a quadrilateral of sorts. Four other top ten metropolises: Bangalore, Pune, Ahmedabad, and Surat, are also served by the network. Then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee laid the foundation stone for the project on January 6, 1999. The largest highway project in India, it is the first phase of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP), and consists of building 5,846 km (3,633 mi) four/six lane express highways at a cost of 60,000 crore (US$10.92 billion). In January 2012, India announced the four lane GQ highway network as complete. The 5,846 km (3,633 mi) of highway connects many of the major industrial, agricultural and cultural centres of India.It is the 5th longest highway in the world.

The vast majority of the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) is not access controlled, although safety features such as guardrails, shoulders, and high-visibility signs are in use.

India's government had initially estimated that the Golden Quadrilateral project would cost 60,000 crore (US$10.92 billion) at 1999 prices. However, the highway has been built under-budget. As of August 2011, cost incurred by Indian government was about half of initial estimate, at 30,858 crore (US$5.62 billion). The eight contracts in progress, as of August 2011, were worth 1,634 crore (US$297.39 million).

In September 2009, it was announced that the existing four-laned highways would be converted into six-lane highways. The expansion project was reported at various stages to be behind schedule, mainly due to land acquisition constraints and disputes with contractors which had to be re-negotiated.

The GQ project is managed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways. The Mumbai-Pune Expressway, the first controlled-access toll road to be built in India is a part of the GQ Project though not funded by NHAI, and separate from the main highway. Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) has been one of the major contributors to the infrastructural development activity in the GQ project.