The National Highways Development Project is a project to upgrade, rehabilitate and widen major highways in India to a higher standard. The project was implemented in 1998. "National Highways" account for only about 2% of the total length of roads, but carry about 40% of the total traffic across the length and breadth of the country. This project is managed by the National Highways Authority of India under the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways . The NHAI has implemented US$ 71 billion for this project, as of 2006.

Expressways are the highest class of roads in the Indian Road Network. As of 2006, the expressways of India make up more than 600 km of the Indian National Highway System. However, the National Highway System also consists of approximately 10,000 km (6,200 mi) of four-laned highways that do not feature full control of access.[1][2] Currently, a massive project is underway to expand the highway network and the Government of India plans to add an additional 18,637 km (11,580 mi) of expressways to the network by the year 2022. [3] These roads will be access- controlled roads and will feature between four to six lanes with 3,530 km (2,190 mi) km to come up in the next three years. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is already in the process of preparing a draft for creation of a National Expressways Authority of India (NEAI) on the lines of NHAI.

6-lane concrete highway with 7m-wide divider. An extra lane provided on each side as a hard shoulder. Separate tunnels for traffic in each direction. Complete fencing to avoid humans/animals crossing the expressway. No two-wheelers, three- wheelers, or tractor vehicles allowed. Provision of petrol pumps, motels, workshops, toilets, emergency phones, first aid, breakdown vans, etc. Proposed planting of 80,000 trees along the Expressway.