Days of intense monsoon rainfall have left a trail of damaged highways, washed-out roads and caved-in expressway stretches across several states, raising fresh concerns over the resilience of India’s transport infrastructure and the mounting cost of repairs. From Gujarat’s national highways to newly built expressways in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, heavy rain has triggered road collapses, disrupted traffic and prompted emergency restoration work, even as questions are being raised over construction quality and drainage planning.

Gujarat shifts from rescue to rebuilding

After three days of relentless rainfall, Gujarat’s focus has moved from rescue operations to repairing widespread damage to roads, bridges and highways. According to a TOI report, one of the worst-affected stretches was on National Highway-51 near Husainabad village in Junagadh’s Mangrol taluka, where a section of the key Dwarka-Somnath corridor was washed away.

The damage forced authorities to suspend traffic before the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and district administration carried out emergency repairs. The highway disruption stranded nearly 900 state transport passengers, who were shifted to cyclone shelters and provided food and drinking water until the route was restored.

Elsewhere in the state, 19 people trapped inside three vehicles near Samadhiyala village in Junagadh district were rescued after floodwaters surrounded them. Heavy rains also battered the Rajula-Jafrabad-Pipavav coastal belt in Amreli district, while Patan witnessed widespread waterlogging after receiving nearly five inches of rain. Residents blamed inadequate pre-monsoon preparations for worsening the flooding.

In Aravalli district, authorities barred heavy vehicles from using the Vatrak river bridge near Dabha village due to safety concerns after waterlogging.

South Gujarat also suffered major infrastructure damage when the Bilimora-Amalsad road in Navsari district developed a nearly five-foot-wide crater near the Ambika river bridge after soil erosion weakened the road base. Traffic resumed only after emergency repairs.

Rs 12,000-crore Delhi-Dehradun Expressway develops cave-in

The monsoon also exposed vulnerabilities on the recently inaugurated Delhi-Dehradun Economic Corridor. Officials said a route patrolling team detected a road surface cave-in at kilometre 55 early Wednesday morning following overnight heavy rainfall. Repair work has since been completed.

The damage sparked political controversy after videos of potholes and the affected stretch circulated widely on social media. The Congress accused the Centre of poor construction quality and alleged corruption in infrastructure projects, claiming the expressway had developed major defects within two months of inauguration.

In April this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 213-km, six-lane Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, built at a cost of over Rs 12,000 crore. The corridor is designed to reduce travel time, improve logistics and strengthen connectivity between Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Rs 36,000-crore Ganga Expressway link road caves in

Similar concerns have surfaced in Uttar Pradesh after a portion of the link road connecting the Kanpur-Lucknow National Highway to the Ganga Expressway caved in near Bashiratganj in Unnao district. Officials said nearly seven metres of the road collapsed after rain washed away the supporting soil beneath the surface.

Local residents alleged that proper slope protection and soil-retention measures had not been implemented during construction, making the road vulnerable to collapse during the first spell of monsoon rains. The residents also claimed that stability concerns had been raised while the project was under construction but were ignored.

Officials noted that issues including road subsidence, soil erosion and damaged railings had also been reported on nearby stretches before the expressway became operational.

The 594-km Ganga Expressway, inaugurated by PM Modi on April 29, is being developed at an estimated cost of around Rs 36,000 crore by the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA). One of the state’s flagship infrastructure projects, the access-controlled expressway connects Meerut with Prayagraj across 12 districts and is expected to significantly improve connectivity across western and central Uttar Pradesh.

Infrastructure costs rise as repair bills add up

While officials have restored traffic on several affected stretches through emergency works, the incidents have thrown spotlights on financial burden of maintaining large-scale infrastructure amid increasingly intense monsoon weather. Beyond the immediate repair costs, road collapses and highway closures also disrupt freight movement, public transport and economic activity, increasing indirect losses for businesses and commuters.