Rajasthan's Kota Gets India's First Eight-Lane Expressway Tunnel Beneath A Tiger Reserve

India’s first eight-lane highway tunnel constructed beneath a tiger reserve is set to become fully operational in August, marking a significant milestone in the country’s highway infrastructure development. The 4.9-kilometre twin-tube tunnel, built under the Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve (MHTR) in Rajasthan’s Kota district, forms part of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway’s Delhi-Vadodara section and is currently undergoing final safety trials before being opened to all categories of vehicles.

The tunnel is designed with twin tubes, each carrying four lanes of traffic, making it India’s first eight-lane underground passage beneath a protected wildlife sanctuary. While civil construction has been largely completed, authorities are conducting final rounds of testing, including evaluations of safety systems, emergency response mechanisms and mobile network connectivity inside the tunnel to ensure smooth and secure operations once it is fully opened.

According to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials, the tunnel has already been partially opened for limited use. Project director Sandeep Agrawal said that at present, only light vehicles such as cars and emergency services are permitted to pass through the tunnel as part of ongoing trial runs. He added that full-scale operations for heavy vehicles and other traffic categories will commence only after the completion of all safety assessments.

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The tunnel, which runs beneath one of Rajasthan’s key wildlife conservation areas, has been engineered with environmental considerations in mind to minimise disruption to the Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve. The project is part of the larger Delhi-Mumbai Expressway initiative, one of India’s most ambitious infrastructure developments aimed at significantly reducing travel time between the national capital and the financial hub of Mumbai.

Officials said that while major structural work on the tunnel has been completed, finishing touches and system integrations are still underway inside the tunnel as part of the final phase of the project. These include installation and calibration of monitoring systems, ventilation checks and communication infrastructure, all of which are essential for ensuring safety in a high-speed, high-volume traffic corridor beneath a sensitive ecological zone.

Once fully operational, the tunnel is expected to enhance connectivity between Delhi and Mumbai while reducing surface traffic impact on environmentally sensitive regions. Authorities maintain that the project represents a balance between infrastructure expansion and ecological protection, although final approval for unrestricted traffic will depend on the successful completion of all remaining safety trials.

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