Final stretch of 701-km-long Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway opened

Mumbai, Jun 5 (PTI) Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday inaugurated the final 76-km-long stretch of the Samruddhi Mahamarg, making the entire 701-km Mumbai-Nagpur corridor fully functional and bringing down the travel time between the two cities to eight hours from around 18 hours.

With the inauguration of the final stretch between Igatpuri in Nashik district to Amane in Bhiwandi taluka of Thane district, this six-lane expressway, officially called 'Hindu Hridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg', is likely to be open for traffic soon, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRDC) said.

Besides Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, Maharashtra ministers Dada Bhuse, Shivendraraje Bhosale and Narhari Zirwal attended the inauguration ceremony at Igatpuri, about 140 km from Mumbai, that was held around 1.45 pm.

After the inauguration, the chief minister also inspected the longest Igatpuri tunnel of the expressway and viaduct in the stretch.

To conduct an inspection of the expressway, Deputy CM Shinde drove a high-end car with CM Fadnavis sitting beside him on the front seat and Pawar occupying the back seat. The inspection lasted around 45 minutes, including the time taken for the journey between Igatpuri and Amane.

On the way back, Fadnavis and Shinde swapped the seats with the CM getting behind the wheel, while Pawar remained in the same seat.

The newly-constructed third creek bridge near Vashi Sion-Panvel Highway was also inaugurated via video conferencing on the occasion.

The MSRDC said once the final 76-km stretch of Samruddhi Mahamarg between Igatpuri in Nashik district and Amane in Thane district (part of Mumbai metropolitan region) opens for traffic, the journey between the two cities can be completed in just eight hours.

"Previously, the journey from Nagpur to Mumbai via the old route would take 17 to 18 hours. With this new greenfield expressway, the same distance (between Nagpur and Amane in Thane district) can be covered in eight hours," the MSRDC said in a release.

So far, 625 km of the expressway has been operational, and nearly two crore vehicles have utilised it. The maximum speed limit on the expressway is 100 km/h in ghat sections and 120 km/h on flat terrain, it said.

The expressway traverses through 392 villages in 26 talukas across 10 districts in five revenue divisions.

After the opening of the final phase for traffic, pilgrims travelling from the Thane-Mumbai region to the temple town of Shirdi in Ahilyanagar district, will benefit from a faster and more convenient route, MSRDC said.

Additionally, farmers from Shirdi, Ahilyanagar, Sinnar and Igatpuri (in Nashik district) will be able to transport their agricultural produce to and from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region efficiently and in less time, said the corporation.

Samruddhi Mahamarg links the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (Navi Mumbai) and major tourist destinations such as Shirdi, Ajanta-Ellora Caves (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district) and Lonar lake (Buldhana district).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the first phase covering 520 km between Nagpur and Shirdi on December 11, 2022. The second 80-km phase from Shirdi (Kokamthan) to Bharvir Interchange (Nashik district) was inaugurated on May 26, 2023, while the third 25km corridor between Bharvir Interchange to Igatpuri was thrown open for traffic on March 4, 2024.

The expressway, built at a cost of about Rs 55,000 crore, is one of India's longest and passes through 10 districts - Nagpur, Wardha, Amravati, Washim, Buldhana, Jalna, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Ahilyanagar, Nashik and Thane. PTI KK NP