This December will see the opening of the Samruddhi Expressway’s last phase, a game-changing infrastructure project in Maharashtra that will improve connectivity between Mumbai and Nagpur. The expressway will link to the Mumbai-Vadodara Expressway at Amane, improving access to the existing Mumbai-Nashik route and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust.
Within a month, the last 76 kilometers of the Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Mahamarg, which connects Igatpuri and Amane, will be available to traffic, completing the 701-kilometer access-controlled motorway. The project’s governing body, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), has already inaugurated 625 km in three stages. On December 11, 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially opened a 520-kilometer stretch of the motorway. Since then, two further sections have been opened: on May 23, 2023, a 105-kilometer stretch from Shirdi to Bharvir, and on March 4, 2024, a segment from Bharvir to Igatpuri. Land acquisition problems, especially at the Thane end, caused the last phase to be delayed from its original opening date prior to the Maharashtra assembly elections.
The 1.5-kilometer bridge at Khardi, which is 84 meters above the ground, is the most difficult engineering task in this final stage. The 8-kilometer tunnel that this bridge links to was built to avoid the clogged Kasara Ghat on the Mumbai-Nashik route, which is infamous for traffic bottlenecks and car breakdowns. Only the finishing touches are needed to complete the construction. After the road was announced in November 2015, construction got underway in February 2019. Although the speed limit is restricted at 120 km/h, the expressway was intended for speeds of up to 150 km/h. The project was split up into 16 packages. Tolls will be collected over the project’s 40-year concession period.
The expressway was originally slated to open in the middle of 2022; however, it was delayed until December 2022 after a wildlife overpass collapsed close to Nagpur. Since then, there have been about 150 accidents and more than 200 fatalities on the road, raising concerns about safety. The establishment of wayside amenities along the route has been difficult for MSRDC in spite of this.
