Booklet: Uttarakhand’s ₹74,100 Crore Road Plan Lands as Delhi–Dehradun Corridor Opens
Dehradun is at the center of a major road push, with the Uttarakhand Public Works Department unveiling a booklet worth ₹74, 100 crore aimed at upgrading connectivity over the next five years. The plan focuses on rural roads, urban decongestion, tourism access and road safety, while the Delhi–Dehradun Economic Corridor has already been inaugurated on 14 April.
The package is designed to reshape how people move across the state, with the biggest share set aside for rural road conversion and a separate push for city traffic relief. Officials have framed the booklet as a long-term infrastructure roadmap that links mobility, tourism and economic growth.
Rural roads get the largest share
The most expensive part of the plan is ₹55, 000 crore for converting 5, 735 km of unpaved roads into paved roads. The work is expected to benefit about 8. 24 lakh people by improving access to remote villages and supporting local economies.
The first phase prioritizes rural connectivity, with a target completion timeline extending to 2031. That timeline shows the scale of the effort, even as the state places the heaviest emphasis on roads that can improve everyday access in harder-to-reach areas.
Urban traffic relief and safety upgrades
To ease congestion in towns and cities, the Uttarakhand Public Works Department has earmarked ₹12, 000 crore for urban transport infrastructure. In Dehradun, projects in the Rispana-Bindal region are intended to reduce traffic pressure and improve mobility.
The plan also includes ₹1, 500 crore for bridge infrastructure and ₹4, 250 crore for road safety improvements. Authorities say the final phase will focus on modernization and innovation in road construction and management, including advanced technologies and sustainable practices.
Booklet points to tourism and economic hubs
Another ₹1, 350 crore has been set aside for tourism and economic hubs, a move expected to support growth and attract more visitors to the state. That part of the booklet ties road building directly to the wider economy, especially in areas where travel access can shape business and tourism activity.
For Uttarakhand, the plan is not only about adding roads. It is also about linking remote communities, reducing bottlenecks in cities and strengthening routes that feed tourism and local trade.
Wildlife protection enters the transport debate
At the same time, the Delhi–Dehradun Economic Corridor has added a different dimension to the region’s highway story. A study released by the National Highway Authority of India and the Wildlife Institute of India documented the first evidence of wildlife using animal underpasses on the corridor, including a 20-km stretch between Ganeshpur and Asharodi with 10. 97 km of animal underpass.
The study covered a 40-day monitoring programme using 150 high-tech camera traps and 29 AudioMoth acoustic recorders. It documented 111, 234 images, with 40, 444 attributed to 18 unique wild species, and recorded 60 instances of elephants safely using the corridors. The findings also point to soundscape management as a key factor in helping wildlife move through the area.
What comes next
The next stage will depend on how quickly the state can move from planning to execution across rural roads, urban corridors, bridges and safety works. The scale of the booklet suggests a long construction cycle ahead, with the most immediate pressure on the rural package, city congestion points and the wildlife-sensitive stretch linked to the Delhi–Dehradun Economic Corridor.
For now, the message from Dehradun is clear: the booklet is meant to do more than build roads. It is meant to change how Uttarakhand connects, grows and manages movement across one of its most challenging landscapes.
