Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated the Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor at a grand public ceremony in Dehradun. Before the inauguration, he reviewed the wildlife elevated corridor built on the raised section of the expressway in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, and also offered prayers at the Jai Maa Daat Kali Temple near Dehradun.

Developed at a cost of over ₹12,000 crore, this 213-kilometre-long, six-lane access-controlled highway connects Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. With this corridor now operational, travel time between Delhi and Dehradun will reduce dramatically from over 6 hours to just about 2.5 hours, bringing massive relief to millions of daily travellers and tourists. The project includes 10 interchanges, three railway overbridges, four major bridges, and 12 public amenity centres along the route.

An advanced traffic management system has been integrated to ensure safer and more efficient travel. The most remarkable feature of this corridor is one of Asia’s longest wildlife elevated corridors — a 12-kilometre stretch designed to allow uninterrupted movement of wild animals. It includes eight animal passages, two elephant underpasses, and a 370-metre-long tunnel near Daat Kali Temple. This project will give a major boost to tourism, trade, and regional development while reflecting PM Modi’s vision of building next-generation infrastructure that balances high-speed connectivity with environmental sustainability.