By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, August 24, 2026: In a bid to improve logistics, strengthen connectivity between industrial hubs, urban centres and backward regions boosting economic growth, the Odisha government has drawn an ambitious highway expansion blueprint for achieving the goal of a developed Odisha in sync with India’s Vision 2047.

The plan, which forms part of the state’s Vision 2036 roadmap, proposes expansion of 7,290km of road corridors across the state to meet 2047’s projected traffic demand. In a recent communication to the district collectors, principal secretary of works department, Sanjay Kumar Singh, said the highway sector vision has been prepared to enhance logistics efficiency, promote regional equity and facilitate faster economic and social development across the state. The exercise was undertaken to identify highway and road corridors requiring development and augmentation to drive economic growth through improved connectivity to industrial centres, consumption hubs and economically lagging regions of the state.

The proposed network expansion comprises around 3,300 km of predominantly national highway corridors, 2,000 km of major non-NH corridors, 760 km of inter-corridors and coastal corridors and 1,230 km of high-priority NH stretches that have already been approved or are under development.

The vision document also proposes addition of feeder roads equivalent to 25-30% of the main corridor length to provide first-mile and last-mile connectivity. These feeder routes have been proposed with a minimum four-lane configuration to support future traffic growth.

A significant feature of the roadmap is the focus on urban mobility. The study has identified decongestion and bypass solutions for 31 major urban locations across the state to reduce traffic bottlenecks and improve movement of goods and passengers. The plan further proposes around 850km of incremental intra-district road augmentation in identified districts.

The district administrations have been asked to keep the proposed Highway Network Master Plan in mind while planning and implementing infrastructural projects so that future investments remain aligned with the state’s long-term transport vision.

The proposed highway network is expected to play a key role in supporting industrial development, improving access to ports and coastal regions and strengthening connectivity between growth centres and hinterland districts. Once implemented, the network is likely to reshape freight and passenger movement across the state over the next two decades, officials said.