Delhi, which has over 33,000 kilometres of roads, is one of the worst major global capitals in terms of traffic congestion, which worsens air pollution, increases wasteful fuel consumption and road accidents.
Gadkari said his ministry—known by its acronym MoRTH—is conducting a study on the viability of this project, and a consultant has been appointed.
“We are planning to make a tunnel, and research and a study are going on…right from Talkatora Stadium to Gurugram. Presently, the project is in a study and research stage. We have appointed one consultant for that,” he said in an interview.
Gadkari said the tunnel could reduce the travel time between Talkatora Stadium and Gurugram by road from at least an hour now—depending upon the time of day—to only 10-15 minutes.
The distance between Talkatora Stadium and Gurugram is approximately 28-30 km, depending on the route taken.
“We want to reduce the traffic jams in Delhi and at the same time, we want to make it free from air pollution,” said Gadkari, adding that better estimates on travel time via this tunnel will be provided after the study is completed.
Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) frequently plummets to ‘severe’. Delhi has breathed ‘poor’, ‘very poor’, or ‘severe’ air for over 40% of the year, every year since 2022, according to the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) data. An AQI of zero to 50 is considered ‘good’, 51-100 ‘satisfactory’, 101-200 ‘moderate’, 201-300 ‘poor’, 301-400 ‘very poor’, and 401-500 ‘severe’.
Gadkari added that the MoRTH has major plans for Delhi’s roads. “We are now newly thinking…we have new projects worth ₹30-40,000 crore for Delhi,” he said.
The MoRTH has allocated a corpus of ₹1 trillion for decongesting Delhi’s roads. Delhi has been a part of key highway projects aimed at cutting travel time. For instance, a 12% reduction in the length of the 1,386km Delhi-Mumbai expressway has halved the travel time from 24 hours to 12 hours.
Similarly, the travel time from Delhi to Katra via Amritsar is down from 12 hours to six hours now due to a 5% reduction in the length of the 669 km corridor, the MoRTH data showed.
Yet, people’s rising preference for using private vehicles over public transport shows a worrying trend, said S. Velmurugan, the Central Road Research Institute’s (CRRI) chief scientist and head of the traffic engineering and safety division.
“Delhi has over 33,000 km of roads, much higher than other metros in the country. This ideally should reduce congestion. But the share of people travelling by the metro and buses is falling every year. About 17% of commuters prefer the metro, and about 15% prefer buses. The rest opt for their own vehicles, and this creates heavy congestion in many densely populated areas in the city,” said Velmurugan.
In 2024-25, the Delhi transport department registered about 450,000 two-wheelers, a little over 190,000 cars, 2,300 buses, and about 17,200 trucks, according to Vahan, the central government’s registry of vehicles.
Earlier this week, the Delhi government implemented a ban on the sale of fuel for end-of-life vehicles—10-year-old diesel vehicles and 15-year-old petrol vehicles—as these vehicles have typically low fuel efficiency, leading to higher carbon emissions.
The Delhi government later put the ban on h
“Idling engines and frequent stop-and-go of vehicles in traffic release significantly more carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, etc., because of the incomplete combustion of fossil fuel. Further, studies show congested traffic can increase fuel consumption by 20-30%, leading to proportional increases in emissions,” said Sharif Qamar, associate director of transport and urban governance at The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri), a think tank.
On 13 March, answering a question on traffic congestion in Delhi in the Lok Sabha, Gadkari said the Delhi Police has identified 134 spots in the city where traffic often comes to a standstill, primarily due to construction work, encroachment, and the heavy volume of traffic.
A Delhi transport department official, on the condition of anonymity, said projects to counter traffic congestion were handled by the Delhi Public Works Department (PWD). The Delhi PWD minister’s office did not respond to Mint‘s query.
Subhash Narayan in New Delhi contributed to the story.