New Direct Road from Chandigarh to Mohali Airport Approved in 2026 — Tricity Residents Save Up to 4 km on Every Trip

After 11 Years of That Painful Loop, Tricity is Finally Getting a Direct Road to Mohali Airport

Published: May 21, 2026 |  Category: Tricity Infrastructure, Chandigarh News  |  Reading Time: ~7 minutes 

The Problem Every Tricity Resident Knows Too Well

Ask anyone in Chandigarh, Panchkula or Zirakpur about reaching the airport and you will hear the same groan. You leave home early, hit the congested stretch near Bawa White House, crawl through Airport Chowk and somehow still land at the terminal sweating over your check-in time.

It was not always like this.

Before November 2015, the old domestic terminal sat right on the IAF base with a convenient entry from the Chandigarh side. Reaching the airport was simple and short. Then Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the brand new Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport at Mohali - a modern, world-class facility - and the old terminal shut down permanently.

Nobody planned a proper alternate road for people coming from Chandigarh, Panchkula and Zirakpur.

That single oversight has been costing millions of commuters time, fuel and peace of mind for eleven straight years.

What Just Happened - The Big News (May 18, 2026)

On May 18, 2026, The Tribune broke an exclusive story that Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has officially approved a proposal to build a brand new 100-foot-wide direct road connecting Chandigarh to Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport.

This is not a rumour. This is not a proposal sitting in a file. The CM has given his nod. Official documents confirm it.

The road starts at the Chandigarh entry point, runs along the edge of Defence land and the vacant portion of the Chandigarh International Airport Limited (CHIAL) estate and goes all the way to the new terminal building - cutting out the long, congested loop through Mohali entirely.

How Much Shorter Will Your Journey Actually Be?

Here is exactly how the distances change once this road opens:

For daily commuters and frequent flyers, those savings add up fast. Less distance means less fuel, less time and dramatically less stress on peak travel days.

Haryana Steps Up Alone - While Punjab Steps Back

Here is where the story gets politically interesting.

This airport is a joint venture between the Airports Authority of India (AAI), Punjab and Haryana. Logically, both states should contribute to fixing its connectivity problem. Haryana went to Punjab and proposed sharing the cost of this road.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said no.

His exact words, as recorded in official documents: "We are going through great economic stress and, therefore, are not able to participate in any project."Mann's argument was that Punjab residents approach the airport from the Mohali side anyway, so this new road does not benefit them.

Haryana CM Saini pushed back - pointing out that the road also reduces distances for people coming from Mohali, Zirakpur  and the Kalka-Shimla Highway. Punjab held its position.

So Haryana decided to bear the entire cost alone - construction, land acquisition, Air Force boundary wall, security systems and a mandatory 450-metre underpass near the runway's Instrument Landing System. That is a significant financial commitment for a state to take on unilaterally for a shared airport.

Credit where it is due: Haryana moved forward instead of waiting for a political compromise that was clearly never coming.

The One Hurdle Left: The Ministry of Defence

Here is the honest part that most coverage is glossing over - this project still needs one critical clearance.

The new road passes through approximately 38 acres of Defence land. That means Haryana needs a formal green light from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in New Delhi before a single brick gets laid.

The Defence Estate Officer has already outlined the procedure. Haryana must submit a formal application on the MoD portal - with request letters, undertakings, sketch maps and government recommendations. Since Haryana has no adjacent land to offer in exchange, it will pay cash, routed through HSVP (Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran).

The office order directing this application upload is already issued. The paperwork is ready. It is now waiting for the Haryana Civil Aviation Minister's sign-off before going to New Delhi.

In other words: the political will exists, the money is committed, and the bureaucratic process has begun. The MoD clearance is the last door to open - and Defence clearances in India can take weeks or months depending on how the files move.

Why Did This Take 11 Years? The Real Story

This problem did not go unnoticed. It went unsolved because of a classic mix of inter-state politics, prohibitive cost estimates, and bureaucratic inertia.

The 2019 Dead End: The issue was first formally raised at the 29th Northern Zonal Council meeting on September 20, 2019 - chaired by Home Minister Amit Shah in Chandigarh. A DMRC-prepared Technical Feasibility Report pegged the cost at ₹1,357 crore. That number shocked everyone. Consensus fell apart. The agenda item was quietly dropped.

The Bureaucratic Revival: The issue came back to life recently after fresh inter-state meetings coordinated by Chandigarh's Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav. Three alternative routes were studied. After detailed technical and ground-level deliberation, the route along the Defence land periphery and CHIAL's vacant estate was unanimously chosen as the most feasible and cost-effective.

The 2019 ₹1,357 crore estimate covered a much more complex alignment. The new route is smarter - it leverages existing vacant land, avoids major demolitions and keeps costs far more manageable.

What This Means Beyond Just the Airport Road

Do not look at this as only a commute upgrade. Look at what this road unlocks for the entire Tricity region.

Real Estate: Areas along the new route - and sectors of eastern Chandigarh, Panchkula and Zirakpur - stand to see direct property value appreciation. Better airport access is a proven driver of residential and commercial demand. Real estate analysts covering the region already flagged a 15–25% price movement potential in well-connected Mohali sectors following infrastructure upgrades.

Business & Commerce: Faster airport access reduces logistics friction for businesses. Executives, traders, and entrepreneurs in the Tricity industrial belt - Baddi, Parwanoo, Derabassi - spend meaningful time in transit every week. Shaving kilometers and minutes off that journey compounds into real economic value.

Tourism: Chandigarh is a gateway city for Himachal Pradesh tourism. A smoother, faster airport experience makes the region more attractive for domestic and international visitors who connect onward to Shimla, Manali and Kasauli.

Fuel and Environment: Shorter distances mean measurably lower fuel consumption and emissions - especially significant as the Tricity airport handles tens of thousands of passengers every month.

The Broader Infrastructure Picture Around the Airport

This new road does not arrive in isolation. Multiple infrastructure projects are converging around Mohali Airport right now, making 2026 a genuinely transformative year for Tricity connectivity.

GMADA's Shortcut Road: The Greater Mohali Area Development Authority has already been building a 3.36 km shortcut from the Sector 65-66 junction (Bawa White House) to Sector 66-B - designed to reduce distance from Chandigarh to the airport by around 3.5 km. The contract went to ASE Builder of Bathinda at a cost of ₹62 crore.

Chandigarh–Ambala Greenfield Expressway: The 31 km, six-lane expressway under the Centre's Bharatmala Pariyojana initiative connects IT City Chowk to Ambala. Package 2 (the Mohali-Kurali stretch) opened in December 2025. Package 1 (IT City Chowk to Ambala) was targeted for completion by March-May 2026. This expressway directly eases congestion on Mohali's Airport Road while creating a high-speed corridor toward Haryana and Punjab's industrial belt.

When you add all three projects together, Mohali Airport will have genuinely transformed connectivity by 2027 compared to what it had a decade ago.

What Should You Watch For Next?

The Ministry of Defence clearance is the single most important milestone to track. Here is the realistic timeline:

• Now: Haryana Civil Aviation Minister approves the MoD application

• Next few weeks: Application formally filed on the MoD portal

• Months 1–6: MoD review process - land survey, security assessment, IAF clearance for underpass near Runway 29

• After MoD approval: Tendering, land handover, construction begins

• Estimated completion: 12–18 months after construction starts, depending on scale

If everything moves without delays - which is optimistic but not impossible given the political commitment - Tricity residents could see this road operational by late 2027 or early 2028.

The Bottom Line

Eleven years is a long time to live with a problem that had a solution. The politics were messy, the cost estimates were scary and the inter-state coordination was exhausting. But Haryana has now cut through all of that by deciding to just build the thing - alone, at full cost - and that deserves recognition.

For the millions of residents in Chandigarh, Panchkula, Zirakpur and surrounding areas who fly regularly, this is the news they have been waiting over a decade to hear.

The road is approved. The paperwork is moving. The Defence clearance is the last unlock.

Sources: The Tribune (May 18–19, 2026), official Haryana government documents, GMADA project updates, NHAI Bharatmala Pariyojana records. 

This article is written based on verified government documents and credible news reporting. All distance figures are from official technical feasibility data cited in inter-state government communications.