India is expected to begin construction work of the Rs70bn ($3.4bn) Vadodara-Mumbai expressway project by May this year.

The 379km proposed expressway will run parallel to the National Highway No 8 from Vadodara and connect to Kim in Surat in Gujarat.

Indian Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Tushar Chaudhary told Times of India that the acquisition of 6,000ha of land is taking place. "NHAI is carrying out tendering and documentation process for the Rs17,000 crore project," he said.

From the west, the expressway will turn east to the NH-8 towards the Gujarat border in Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Navsari and Valsad. The road will also run west into the Dadra and Nagar Haveli and east at Vasai near Mumbai; it will enter Raigad, bypassing Mumbai, according to the Times of India.

The expressway will have six lanes between Vadodara and Surat and eight between Surat and Dahisar, with 12 major interchanges in Gujarat and eight in Maharashtra, according to National Highway Authority of India.

Upon completion, the road will be connected to the Ahmedabad-Vadodara expressway, which is already operational; while the travel time between Mumbai and Vadodara will be about five hours.

The expressway will be designed to allow vehicles to travel at speeds of up to 120km an hour.

The road will have wayside amenities at about 50km intervals and will follow the alignment fixed by the state government in 1992.

Construction work is scheduled to begin after the building of the 93km section of Ahmedabad-Vadodara expressway, under the Golden Quadrilateral project that will link Delhi-Mumbai-Chennai-Kolkata-Delhi.

The project is expected to be complete in four years.