In a significant move to ease travel costs, the Government of India has announced up to a 50% reduction in toll charges for vehicles using stretches of National Highways that include bridges, tunnels, flyovers, or elevated roads. The decision, notified by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on July 2, 2025, aims to make toll collection more equitable on infrastructure-heavy routes.
Under the amended National Highways Fee Rules, the toll for such highway sections will now be calculated using a new formula:
“Toll will be based on either 10 times the length of the structure(s) added to the rest of the highway section, or 5 times the total section length — whichever is less.”
Highway Section Length: 40 km (entirely structures like bridges/tunnels)
Old Rule: Toll charged as if 400 km (10 × 40 km)
New Rule: Toll charged as if 200 km (5 × 40 km)
Earlier, tolls on these sections were calculated at 10x the regular rate to recover the higher cost of building and maintaining such infrastructure. However, this often translated into excessive charges for motorists, particularly on routes dominated by flyovers and tunnels.
The new method aims to rationalize user charges while still ensuring fair cost recovery for the government. It strikes a balance between infrastructure investment and public convenience.