Maharashtra minister Eknath Shinde drives on Samruddhi Marg

The much-awaited Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Expressway -- the country’s longest Greenfield road project -- would start functioning from May.

The Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg, as it is formally known, is one of the most ambitious road projects ever taken in Maharashtra and India.

The first phase of the project, which will connect the state’s winter capital and orange city of Nagpur to the temple town of Shirdi, will start in May.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s close aide and state urban development and public works (public undertakings) minister Eknath Shinde himself took to the wheels and drove on the Expressway to undertake final checks.

“We plan to open the first phase between Nagpur and Shirdi in May... the chief minister wants that we should start it by May,” said Shinde, who has been overseeing the project since its initial stages.

The 701-km Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Expressway was launched when now leader of Opposition and ex-chief minister Devendra Fadnavis headed the previous BJP-Shiv Sena government.

The expressway passes through ten districts Nagpur, Wardha, Amravati, Washim, Buldhana, Aurangabad, Jalna, Ahmednagar, Nashik and Thane. It will connect Nagpur to Mumbai and have direct connectivity with the country’s largest container port JNPT. This will enhance the EXIM trade of the state.

Inter-connecting highways and feeder roads would be constructed to connect all important cities and tourist places along this route.

This will connect another14 districts -- Chandrapur, Bhandara, Gondia, Gadchiroli, Yavatmal, Akola, Hingoli, Parbhani, Nanded, Beed, Dhule, Jalgaon, Palghar and Raigad. In this manner, a total of 24 districts in Maharashtra will be connected via this expressway.

Major tourist destinations in the state will also be connected to the expressway. It will connect several industrial areas, the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC), dry ports of Wardha and Jalna.

The expressway, having a total width of 120m with a central median of 22.5m will follow the international standards of design. There will be eight lanes, four on each side. In case there is a need to increase lanes on either side, a provision has been made in the centre of the expressway. It will have service roads on both sides that will connect through underpasses.

It will have around 50+ flyovers, 24+ interchanges, more than five tunnels, 400+ vehicular and 300+ pedestrian underpasses provided at strategic locations. It has multiple underpasses and overpasses for wild animals.

It will have a speed limit of 150 km which will bring Nagpur and Mumbai within eight hours reach. Thus, travel time from Mumbai to Aurangabad will be four hours and from Aurangabad to Nagpur, another four hours.

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