The 210 km stretch from Nagpur to Shelu Bazaar in Washim district will be thrown open for traffic in the first phase.
Nagpur: The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) is gearing up for the inauguration of the first phase of Nagpur- Mumbai Samruddhi Mahamarg on May 2. The 210 km stretch from Nagpur to Shelu Bazaar in Washim district will be opened for traffic in the first phase.
The ambitious project, which is also known as the ‘Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg’ is aimed at reducing the travel time between Nagpur and Mumbai by half. Currently, the travel time between the two cities is somewhere between 16-18 hours.
According to MSRDC, it has completed over 70 per cent of the work of the Rs 55,000 crore project. The construction work started in January 2019. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister directed MSRDC to ensure that the entire stretch has greenery alongside the Expressway so that people can enjoy the journey.
According to reports, the MSRDC was planning to start traffic on the Samruddhi Mahamarg between Nagpur and Shirdi in the first phase. However, due to financial difficulties of the contractor in Package 5, the work was delayed. Therefore, MSRDC was embarrassed to change the contractor at this stage. However, due to various reasons, the work of some of the bridges in Package 7 has been delayed. Also, in the second wave of the Corona, the shifting of skilled workers to the village, as well as the disruption of oxygen supply, hampered important work in terms of engineering. In Package 11, there are difficulties in carrying out the work of a bridge over Godavari River in Kopargaon due to water flow. The work is expected to be completed by early November.
The MSRDC has decided to start 210 km of highway traffic from Nagpur to Shelu Bazaar in Washim district. After that, the 520 km highway from Nagpur to Shirdi will be started in phases by the end of December, sources said.
