25 National Highway Toll Plazas to Go Barrier-Free with Multi-Lane Free Flow System

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will shift towards a toll-free barrier system at 25 National Highway fee plazas, thereby heralding a drastic change in highway management in India. The development under MLFF will help reduce bottlenecks, improve the collection of toll revenues, and contribute to creating a better user experience.

In contrast to conventional toll plazas, where vehicles stop to make payments towards the toll, MLFF utilizes RFID readers of high accuracy and automatic number plate recognition cameras to read FASTags and registration numbers of vehicles travelling at normal speed, thus eliminating stop-go queues, reducing travel times, fuel consumption, and emissions.

As stated by MoRTH, during the financial year of 2025-26, the implementation of MLFF will take place at 25 fee plazas by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The process of shortlisting locations is currently underway.

The country’s first MLFF-based toll plaza is coming up at Choryasi in Gujarat. The project is being executed under an agreement between Indian Highway Management Company Limited (IHMCL) and ICICI Bank, making it the pilot site for India’s shift to fully electronic tolling.

Officials say the system is expected to not only enhance commuter convenience but also plug leakages in toll revenue, a persistent challenge in manual and semi-automated collection methods. Once scaled nationwide, it could transform India’s vast highway network into a faster and more efficient transport grid.

India’s road infrastructure has expanded rapidly in the past decade. As of now, the country has a road network of over 63 lakh km, with National Highways alone stretching 1,46,342 km—up from 91,287 km in March 2014, a growth of 55,055 km in ten years.

With highway traffic increasing year after year, the government views MLFF as a critical step in building smarter roads that match global standards. If successful, the system could make long waits at toll plazas a thing of the past for millions of highway commuters.