Mumbai:

The Samruddhi Mahamarg, officially called the Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg, was planned during Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s first term in 2016.

 Maharashtra’s biggest highway project, the 701-km-long Samruddhi Mahamarg, will be fully open to the public on Thursday, June 5. The last 76-km part of the road, from Igatpuri in Nashik to Amane in Thane, will be launched. This expressway is expected to be a major breakthrough, cutting the travel time between Mumbai and Nagpur to just seven hours.

This is a rare greenfield expressway, made from scratch, and will serve as a high-speed route between Mumbai — the financial capital of Maharashtra — and Nagpur, the winter capital. The expressway will reduce the long travel time between the two cities to only seven hours.

Samruddhi Mahamarg: Budget, route, key features

The newly added 76-km part, which opens on Thursday, is expected to make a big difference. It will reduce the travel time between Amane and Igatpuri from more than 90 minutes to just 40 minutes.

It will also remove the need to travel through the Kasara Ghat section of the old Mumbai-Nashik Highway, which is a long and twisty uphill road. Instead of climbing 450 metres on the old road through the Western Ghats, the new route is much straighter and only rises 160 metres. This change will save both time and fuel for drivers.

The entire project cost Rs 55,335 crore and required more than 8,800 hectares of land, taken from nearly 24,000 farmers across 10 districts. The first part of this six-lane road, which can be widened to eight lanes, was opened in December 2022.

With the opening of the last and most important section from Igatpuri to Amane, the full 701-km expressway will now be complete and ready for use. Even though it’s often called the Mumbai-Nagpur Expressway, the Samruddhi Mahamarg doesn’t actually start in Mumbai.

It begins in Amane, which is in Thane district, and its starting point is about 63 km away from Mantralaya — the state government’s main office. Even when traffic is not heavy, it takes about 2 hours and 10 minutes to reach the expressway from Mantralaya.

However, for those who can access it from Amane and further along the route, this expressway — designed with modern features and top-quality standards — brings major travel benefits.

Making commute easier for Mumbai, Navi Mumbai dwellers

This section is part of the very busy Mumbai-Nashik Highway, which is important for traffic going towards North Maharashtra and even Delhi. But it has many problem areas, especially the narrow Kasheli Bridge, part of which broke down last year.

In 2019, the state started a project worth Rs 1,252 crore to widen the road and build new bridges. It was supposed to be finished by 2021, but there have been many delays. Now, the latest deadline for finishing this work is the end of 2025. Once this stretch is upgraded, it will finally bring the full benefits of the Samruddhi Mahamarg to Mumbai and nearby areas, making travel much faster and smoother.

For people coming from Mumbai or Navi Mumbai, the closest entry point to the Samruddhi Mahamarg is near Bhiwandi, close to Shangrila Water Park, using the Mumbai-Nashik Highway. This area is already packed with warehouses and lots of truck traffic, as Bhiwandi is a big centre for goods transport.

To make it easier for people to reach the expressway, the Maharashtra government has planned to widen a key 23-km stretch of road between Thane and Vadape, which is near the expressway’s starting point.

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