A review meeting taken by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on the status of highway projects in Assam has revived hope for speeding up the construction work of the National Highway (NH) from Jorhat to Dibrugarh. Focusing on meeting target datelines of NH projects in the state requires a systemic improvement beyond routine review meetings. The harrowing experience of commuters travelling from Jorhat to Dibrugarh along the underconstruction of a four-lane highway is a contrasting picture when compared to the experience of faster and smoother travel in NH built with cutting-edge technology in other regions of the country. Images of announcements or foundation stone-laying events of the NH projects in the state done with much fanfare have started to fade away due to the snail pace of execution. Hugh amounts involved in the ongoing projects—rojects already completed, approved, and in the pipeline speak volumes of the commitment of the Central Government to push road connectivity in a big way and build a strong network of NH in the state to take mobility standards at par with the developed regions. Inordinate delay sets a negative perception among the people about the projects, and they start blaming the government for neglecting or not prioritising the state or the Northeast region. The central government granting approval to the alignment of the proposed construction of an elevated corridor in Kaziranga National Park is good news, but the Rs. 5500-crore project will have to wait for another two to three months for final approval by the Union Cabinet. Once this elevated corridor project is completed, seamless travel right along a four-lane highway right from Srirampur on the Assam-West Bengal interstate boundary to Dibrugarh via Kaziranga will be a reality for travellers. When that finally happens, apart from faster movement of passengers and goods in the state, it will also boost tourism in a big way. Lessons must be drawn from the poor progress of the Jorhat-Dibrugarh highway work so that target dates for the elevated corridor are not missed. The elevated corridor project is vital for long-term conservation needs of the national park, more particularly to facilitate unhindered movement of park animals to higher elevations of Karbi Anglong foothills during floods for food and shelter and during normal migration during non-flood season. Maintenance of NH sections already completed in the state also deserves the focused attention of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. Prolonged monsoons and extreme weather like large excess rainfall hampering the construction work in the Northeast region is not something that is not known to the policy planners and MoRTH officials. These challenges are factored in in the course of the feasibility studies, and target datelines are fixed only after considering all such possibilities. Allegations of poor quality in construction work raised by people call for urgent attention of the MoRTH, as the roadworthiness and durability of the highways in Assam and other states of the region are critical for connecting the highway network in the region to the ASEAN highway network under the Act East policy in the future. Contractors’ leaving work without completing their work allotted to them for NH construction points towards a yawning gap in scrutiny of the financial capabilities or adequate construction experience at the time of awarding the contracts. Retendering consumes considerable time and further delays project execution, but the recurrence of this is a sad commentary on the failure on the part of the NHIDCL to ensure that NH construction work is awarded to contractors with the capability to meet target dates and ensure quality construction. Work not speeding up despite multiple review meetings discussing the same deficiencies indicates that this is an area that continues to get inadequate attention when it comes to NH construction or expansion in Assam. Apart from meeting the connectivity needs of general people for trade, commerce, and daily commuting, all NH projects also have strategic importance to ensure faster and smoother movement to troops of security forces. This strategic requirement alone calls for expeditious completion of the NH expansion and new NH projects. Construction of vital bridges in the region needs to be prioritised, and delay could prove to be very costly. Fund availability for NH projects in Assam and other states in the region is no longer an issue, and the central government has prioritised connectivity and other infrastructure development in the region, which were long neglected. The use of drones and smartphones has made it possible to monitor the real-time progress of construction work with contractors uploading pictures daily from construction sites. A robust monitoring mechanism will allow timely review of the work at the decision-making level and ensure prompt measures to address any shortcomings noticed. This will ensure that review meetings taken at the Union Minister’s or Chief Minister’s level can take up larger policy issues about the projects in the pipeline.