A new six-lane bypass being developed around Jalandhar is expected to create an additional highway route around the city, with the project designed primarily to improve the movement of traffic along Punjab's North-South corridor.
The Jalandhar Bypass is a greenfield road project being implemented by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Unlike the widening of an existing road, a greenfield highway is constructed along a new alignment.
According to NHAI records, the bypass will be 46.5 km long. It will start from Kahlwan on NH-03 and end at Kang Sahbu on NH-703, passing through Sarmastpur on NH-44, Madara on NH-03 and Khajurla on NH-44.
The project has been described by NHAI and district officials as part of efforts to decongest the North-South corridor in Punjab.
In simple terms, the bypass will provide a separate highway route outside the existing city road network. This means traffic using the new corridor will have an alternative to travelling through existing stretches of Jalandhar.
However, NHAI has not published an official estimate stating exactly how many minutes a journey will be shortened after the bypass opens. There is also no official figure specifying how much traffic will shift from existing roads to the new route.
NHAI's implementation records show that the project received its appointed date on December 29, 2022, and was listed as under construction in NHAI's April 2025 project records. The concessionaire is Krishna Constructions, and the project is being executed under the Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM).
Government project-monitoring data provides a more recent picture of construction. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation's February 2026 monitoring report recorded 42% physical progress, with cumulative expenditure of about Rs 797.54 crore.
A March 2026 government monitoring report recorded physical progress at 42.98% and retained June 2027 as the revised target completion month.
The monitoring records also show that the project's original approved cost of about Rs 1,754.84 crore was revised to approximately Rs 2,167.39 crore.
Land acquisition has been part of the project's implementation process.
During a review meeting in August 2023, NHAI land acquisition advisor Hussan Lal and then Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner Vishesh Sarangal directed officials to speed up compensation payments and related land-acquisition work.
At that meeting, officials reported that 77% of the compensation amount had been disbursed and 69% of the required land had been acquired for the bypass.
These figures are from the August 2023 review and should not be treated as the current land-acquisition position.
The bypass is being developed as a six-lane greenfield corridor connecting important national highways around Jalandhar.
Its stated objective is to improve the movement of traffic on the North-South corridor and provide a new route around the city. The exact impact on travel times, congestion on individual Jalandhar roads and traffic volumes will depend on how vehicles use the completed corridor.
For now, the latest government monitoring data available publicly records the project at 42.98% physical progress, with a revised target completion date of June 2027.
So, the Jalandhar bypass is not simply another road-widening project. It is a 46.5-km, six-lane greenfield highway corridor designed to add a new route around the city and improve connectivity between existing national highways.