[1] The highway, which is proposed under the Bharatmala project, is expected to reduce the travel time between Palakkad and Kozhikode to two hours and decongest traffic on the existing NH 966.
[2] During peak traffic, it takes approximately four hours to travel from Kozhikode to Palakkad through the present NH 966 route.
Of this, Rs 4,000 crore is for construction and the remaining 4000 crores is for acquiring 547 hectares of land with a width of 45 meters including the service road.
The highway will accommodate traffic between Kozhikode and the Calicut airport in Kondotty, Malappuram and is expected to enable high-speed access to the ports of Kozhikode and Chennai.
It is also expected to increase connectivity to the 39 villages along the alignment and to tourist sites such as Wayanad, Mysuru, Silent Valley, Nilambur and Ooty.