The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, through the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), has announced the winners of its ‘Green Highways Excellence Awards 2026’. The awards recognize highway projects that have successfully adopted sustainable planting and landscaping practices along National Highways. The announcement affects NHAI field offices, contractors, concessionaires, government bodies, NGOs and private agencies involved in plantation work on India’s highway network.
Award Categories and Winners
NHAI received 86 nominations from across the country and shortlisted 15 for final evaluation. The competition was held across three categories:
- Avenue Plantations: Trees planted along highway sides. First prize went to the Six Laning project on NH 16 in Andhra Pradesh. Second prize was awarded to the Vadodara-Kim Expressway section in Gujarat, and third prize to sections of NH-925 under Jaipur region.
- Median Plantations: Trees planted in highway medians. The Hyderabad-Yadgiri section of NH 163 won first prize. Second prize went again to the Vadodara-Kim Expressway in Gujarat, and third prize to Varanasi Ring Road in Uttar Pradesh.
- Plantation in Land Parcels: Greenery in spaces around cloverleaves, interchanges and toll plazas. The Jamtha Clover Leaf project on NH-44 in Nagpur took first prize, with the Duhai Interchange near Delhi receiving second prize and a Lucknow intersection project winning third.
Entries were assessed using survival rate of plants as the primary measure, along with factors such as species diversity, use of native plants, quality of plantation materials, and potential for replication across the highway network.
What This Means for You
These awards signal NHAI’s push to make highway construction and maintenance environmentally responsible. If you travel on National Highways, you may see improved green spaces and better maintained plantations in the coming years as projects compete for recognition and funding. The awards also create an incentive framework for contractors and agencies to invest in plantation quality and survival, meaning the greenery along highways is likely to be better planned and more durable. The initiative ties to NHAI’s Green Highways Policy from 2015, reflecting a long-term commitment to blending road development with environmental care.