Expressways coming up across the country are quietly rewriting how long it takes to travel between distant cities, and one of the biggest examples of this is now taking shape between Indore and Hyderabad. Once the new high-speed corridor is ready, the travel time between the two cities will drop by almost half, turning what is currently a 21-hour road journey into roughly a 10-hour one.
A 713-km corridor linking three states
The National Highways Authority of India is building this roughly 713-kilometre expressway connecting Indore and Hyderabad. The corridor passes through Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Telangana, threading through towns such as Khandwa, Jalgaon, Nanded, Washim and Hingoli before reaching Hyderabad. Large sections of the construction work in the Maharashtra and Telangana stretches are already complete, while work is still ongoing on the Madhya Pradesh side. The entire project is expected to be finished by December, after which all three states stand to benefit directly.
Currently 21 hours by road, even longer by train
At present, covering the roughly 850-kilometre road distance between the two cities takes anywhere between 20 and 21 hours. Interestingly, the train journey takes even longer, around 25 hours, making road travel the faster of the two even today. Because the new expressway measures only 713 kilometres, it will shave close to 150 kilometres off the existing route. On top of that, this four-lane highway will allow vehicles to travel at speeds of up to 100 km/h, bringing the total journey time down to just 10 hours. With both the distance shrinking and the speed rising, the time saved works out to nearly half of what the journey takes today.
The route: from Madhya Pradesh to Telangana
The expressway begins in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, and runs through Khandwa and Burhanpur before crossing into Maharashtra. It enters Maharashtra at Akola, then continues through Washim, Hingoli and Nanded on its way toward Telangana. Before finally reaching Hyderabad, it will also pass through Telangana towns such as Kamareddy, Medak and Sangareddy. Altogether, the corridor is expected to give close to 10 towns and cities across the three states direct connectivity, a shift that could also give a push to trade and industry along the route.
Three tunnels to tame a tricky hill stretch
The toughest engineering stretch on this entire project lies near Indore. Between Tejaji Nagar and the area spanning Khargone district and Balwara, there is roughly 33 kilometres of hilly, ghat terrain where building a conventional road is extremely difficult. To work around this, NHAI has decided to build three modern tunnels near Bheru Ghat and Chorl Ghat. Once these tunnels are ready, the risky drive through the ghat section will be eliminated entirely, letting travellers cross this entire hilly stretch safely in just about half an hour. That will not only save time but also significantly cut down the risk of accidents on this stretch.
