Western Peripheral Expressway

Western Peripheral Expressway (also known as KMP for Kundli-Manesar-Palwal) is the western half of the Delhi bypass ring road system. The 135.6 km six-lane expressway connects Kundli (north of Delhi) to Palwal (south of Delhi) via Manesar and Gurugram on the western flank, completing — together with the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (135 km, also opened 2018) — a 270 km ring around Delhi.

The project had a tortured 12-year construction history: sanctioned in 2006 with a 30-month target, it was beset by funding disputes, contractor changes (the original concessionaire KMP Expressways went bankrupt), land-acquisition delays, and political controversy. NHAI eventually took over and re-tendered the remaining work to Essar Constructions, completing the project in 2018 at ₹6,400 crore.

The expressway diverts heavy commercial traffic — particularly Punjab/Haryana trucks heading to Mumbai or Rajasthan — around Delhi. Combined with EPE, the ring carries an estimated 50,000+ trucks/day that previously transited through Delhi's saturated arteries, contributing significantly to the capital's air pollution.

Design features include: 6-lane (3+3) configuration, design speed 120 km/h, 4 toll plazas, dedicated truck lanes, integration with all major Delhi-NCR exit roads (NH-1, NH-8, NH-2, NH-44). A 2 km test track section was used by Maruti Suzuki for prototype validation before public opening.