This is going to change everything!

This is a properly epic moment. Not just for car enthusiasts, but for us as a nation. The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is, undoubtedly, India’s most important - and ambitious - expressway project of all time, and, in just a moment, we’re going to be driving down the future of India’s road to progress. Buckle up!

This drive promises to be no less than a celebration of the future of motoring, and quite befittingly, we’ve brought along Volvo’s entire India line-up for this journey. Speaking of the future, the car we’re setting off in is the Volvo XC40 Recharge, an SUV that brings you the best of all worlds in an electric (literally!) package. If you can’t wait to get going, well, that’s exactly how we feel too!

Unlocked exclusively for CarWale - and for you - is the first leg of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway (DME), which stretches from Sohna, on the fringes of Gurugram to Dausa, Rajasthan, a town about 50km from Jaipur. We have to ourselves nearly 200km of a minty new expressway - a premise that understandably has us excited to another level altogether, especially since it’s not just another expressway. In fact, it’s the most prestigious, most futuristic expressway of them all. One that’s going to redefine connectivity between Delhi and Mumbai in the most monumental way.

Alright, let’s go!

This is, on average, about ten times the length of any other expressway project in the country. The scale of it is simply incomprehensible. Ahead of us is an expanse of tarmac unlike anything we’ve seen before in India. Four lanes wide, with the fifth lane forming the shoulder, the surface appears to be impeccably finished, and it’s completely barricaded. Even the signboards are larger and proportionate to the scale of the expressway, and it all feels…unreal. This is the sort of visual you’ve probably seen somewhere in America or Australia. Is it really happening?

‘Welcome to Delhi-Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway’, a giant overhead sign confirms. The next one, barely a hundred metres away, is about the specifics. ‘Mumbai - 1224km’. Gulp! Typically, depending on the route you choose, this is a roughly 1400km drive, so it’s clear that the expressway has managed to slice about 150-200km off the distance, but that’s hardly its party trick. Anyone who has done this drive knows that it’s easily a two-day affair, with a stopover typically in Rajasthan. Some of us have done this drive even without stops; those easily take up a clean 24 hours, switching driving duties at regular intervals. The DME was devised with the objective of making this a 12-hour drive. Wait, what? That’s 1224km in 12 hours! How? The first speed limit signage solves this mystery - it reads a big, bold ‘120.’ Theoretically, at least, it can happen.

In the amplified quietness of the Volvo XC40 Recharge (thanks to being an EV, that is), gliding down this expanse of tarmac feels even more dramatic. At first, we’re simply coasting, registering the many embellishments to the expressway - signages, road markings, a 20-metre-wide median, SOS booths, and the like. Although we’re at a steady 100kmph, it feels, at best, like a brisk walk.

In the first five minutes itself, realisation descends: it’s simply brilliant, this expressway! Firstly, and allow us a little gloating, the feeling of having India’s most important expressway all to ourselves is nothing short of phenomenal. This truly is a world-class project that translates to a very ‘international’ experience. In barely minutes, we’d swallowed up the first fifty kilometres of the expressway and began warming up to the idea of what a day down this promising road was going to feel like.

Why has the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway been layered with tarmac, though? Isn’t tarmac, typically, not the best surface in terms of longevity? Thankfully, the answer to this question and to many others was waiting for us at one of the many mega rest areas (the DME features a wayside amenities bay every 30km, replete with refuelling/recharging stations, motels, restaurants and every imaginable amenity you could wish for).

As we steered off the main carriageway and pulled up in a giant parking bay, we were greeted by Mr Mudit Garg, Project Director, PIU-Sohna, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). With some of the most premier roadways projects to his credit, Mr Garg’s experience has been of tremendous value to the DME and, as we learned over a lengthy conversation, he sure is a man with an impeccable view of road safety, mobility and attention-to-detail.

“Safety is the most important aspect we have taken into consideration while building this Expressway. We have two-way cameras with a range of 500m stationed every kilometre, which means the entire length of the expressway is constantly under surveillance. Also, the entire expressway has been engineered to withstand all weather conditions, which explains why almost all of it is constructed with bitumen or tarmac. Only in heavy rainfall regions, such as in Maharashtra, have we chosen concrete as the surface because it ensures longevity and a consistently smooth ride,” he states, in his opening remarks to us. He adds, “We have considered a very balanced perspective keeping in mind, both, truckers as well as private car owners. So be it in terms of safety, rest areas, or even driving comfort, this expressway is going to provide the absolute best that has ever been witnessed in India.”

Indeed, the NHAI’s emphasis on road safety has been incorporated to the highest degree on the DME, with both preventive and active safety features prominently visible. Be it comprehensively engineered crash test attenuators, well-designed road markings, signages and, of course, the presence of cameras and SOS booths, the DME is equipped generously with the objective of allowing safe passage of vehicles, big and small. To address the monotony of such a drive, the NHAI believes the road markings and wayside amenities (over 100 throughout the expressway) will encourage driver attentiveness and also ample opportunities for rest.

On the last 100 or so kilometres accessible to us, we decided to do an uninterrupted drive, sticking strictly to the speed limit to see just what regular users would experience; it’s simply sublime. It’s one thing to be able to consistently hold 120kmph (you can genuinely use your cruise control feature here for its money’s worth) and another altogether to be able to do so without feeling a thing. The surface, the visibility, and the overall user-friendliness of the layout really lend themselves to assuring you of a safe, composed journey.

Exploring the various nuances of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway ensured we spent the entire day driving up and down the length of the first leg, which also meant that we could drive the return leg from Dausa to Gurugram at night. Truth be told, it was in no way a compromise, with the high-quality signages and markings accentuating the emphasis on safety and driving comfort the NHAI has dialled in. It’s at night, in fact, that you appreciate the DME even more – especially if you’re among those who frequent the existing Delhi-Mumbai route, the NH8. That’s a drive that can easily take you a full 24 hours, and while it has character, the journey can be an arduous one, especially in unfavourable weather.

With the DME, that journey becomes not just monumentally faster but also, thankfully, simpler. While the entire expressway will only be operational by 2024, for now, travellers between Delhi and Jaipur surely have a treat to themselves. Here’s an expressway that’s not only bigger and better than any other such project in the country but one that’s a matter of pride and a sign of our tremendous progress. To put it very simply, it’s going to change everything.