Samruddhi Mahamarg: Final 76-Km Stretch Set To Open By November, Completing Nagpur-Mumbai Link

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) plans to open the remaining stretch of the Samruddhi Mahamarg in November this year.

The Samruddhi Mahamarg, a 701 km expressway linking Nagpur to Mumbai, currently has a 625-km stretch open from Nagpur to Igatpuri town.

The final 76-km portion between Igatpuri and Amane village in Thane, which will connect to Mumbai, is still under construction and is expected to partially open by August.

"We have completed close to 90 per cent of the work, with the 1.8 km Khardi bridge on the Kasara ghat section posing the main challenge. The 8-km-long tunnel is complete. While the expressway is six lanes, it will temporarily narrow to four lanes at the Khardi bridge for the time being," a senior MSRDC official told the Free Press Journal.

“The entire expressway has three lanes on each side. The traffic till Mumbai will start by August and only the bridge stretch will have a four-lane road with two lanes being operational in either direction. This would be a temporary arrangement and we have plans to open the remaining lanes of the bridge for traffic by November, thereby making operational the entire expressway a six-lane project,” the official added.

Currently, the longest expressway in the country, it traverses 10 key districts and indirectly connects 14 others, establishing a seamless link between Maharashtra's eastern region and the economically vital western region.

Styled as the 'Samruddhi Mahamarg' (Prosperity Corridor), the expressway connects significant economic hubs, including the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai, the country’s largest container port, and the upcoming international airport in Navi Mumbai.

The Maharashtra government has proposed developing additional connectors or access-controlled expressways to link major districts to the Samruddhi Mahamarg.

In line with this, the MSRDC has initiated work on the 179.85-km Jalna-Nanded expressway. The agency has also issued bids for constructing two more access-controlled expressways: Nagpur-Gondia and Nagpur-Chandrapur.

These three expressways will connect to the Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Mahamarg, enhancing road travel connectivity between Mumbai and the remote parts of the state.