Madhya Pradesh Plans ₹4,000 Crore Six-Lane Greenfield Expressway to Cut Bhopal-Indore Travel Time to 2.5 Hours
Madhya Pradesh is considering a ₹4,000-crore, six-lane greenfield expressway connecting Bhopal and Indore, the state's two largest cities. The proposed high-speed corridor would be built on an entirely new alignment and would not be an expansion of the existing Bhopal-Indore highway, which passes through several populated and congested stretches.
Officials cited in a report said the detailed project report and alignment have already been approved for the corridor. The state government is now weighing whether to execute the project directly, after the Union road ministry indicated a preference for adding capacity to the existing highway instead of building an entirely new one.
Road planners will need to work out how the new expressway connects with the existing road network at both ends, since poorly placed entry and exit points could offset the time savings achieved on the high-speed section. The proposal is part of a broader push to build a Bhopal metropolitan region and improve connectivity among Madhya Pradesh's key urban and industrial centres, alongside Cabinet approval for widening the Bhopal-Vidisha road and plans to expand capacity on Bhopal's bypass.
Once built, the expressway would reduce travel time between Bhopal and Indore from close to four hours to about 2.5 hours. The next milestones for the project include a final implementation decision, a published alignment, funding approval, and construction tenders.