Mumbai–Nagpur Expressway

Cost

The total project cost, including the land acquisition cost, is around ₹55,000 crore (equivalent to ₹580 billion or US$6.9 billion in 2023).^[6][7] It is among the country's longest greenfield road projects.^[4]

Design

• A single-layer concrete paver has been utilized for the whole 15-metre width of the concrete slabs^[19] on either side of the road.
• The expressway will be designed to aid as a runway^[20] for airplanes to facilitate fast incident response in war-like situations, emergencies or natural disasters.^[21]
• An Integrated Traffic Management System will be deployed along the expressway to keep tabs on vehicles speeding, lane discipline or vehicular breakdowns.
• At every 40–50 km of interval on the e-way, wayside amenities like food plazas and rest areas along with electric charging stations^[22][23] for electric vehicles will be made available.
• Extensive landscaping, tunnel lighting, bridge beautification, improved street lighting and digital signage will be used throughout the length of the expressway.^[24]
• Amongst the 32 major bridges^[25] that shall be built along the expressway, 5 bridges at Nagpur, Wardha, Nashik, Buldhana, and Thane are proposed to have a theme-based iconic design.
• To ensure digital readiness and resource availability, provisions will be laid down for optical fiber connectivity,^[26] natural gas pipelines, and electricity grid along the Mahamarg at industrial townships.
• With electric vehicle charging points^[27] proposed at prospecting locations along the expressway and solar plants planned to generate 250MW energy, the Samruddhi Corridor aims to become a model of an energy efficient corridor.
• Maximum locally available material, fly ash^[28] and plastic will be used to construct the expressway wherever possible. Rain water will also be harvested at prospect locations along the expressway to ensure water availability.
• The expressway will connect several tourism circuits offering eco, pilgrim, and heritage tourism which will include wildlife resorts, tiger safaris, museums, sightseeing destinations, and theme-based retail outlets.
• The expressway is a 6 lane (with paved and unpaved shoulders on both sides) access-controlled super communication expressway comprising a total width of 120 m (90 m in hilly terrain) with a central median of 22.5 m.^[29]
• The expressway will be the country's largest 'Greenfield' route alignment including 65 flyovers/viaducts,^[30] 24 interchanges, 6 tunnels,^[31] 400+ vehicular, 300+ pedestrian underpasses, and cattle underpasses at strategic locations.

Construction

To expedite the pre-construction work on the expressway, MSRDC decided to divide the design work into 5 packages and hired a separate consultancy firm to prepare the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for each package, On 31 May 2017, the Government of Maharashtra incorporated 'Nagpur Mumbai Super Communication Expressway Limited', a special purpose vehicle (SPV), to manage the financial requirement for the construction and operation of this project.

The construction work of the 701 km long Mumbai–Nagpur Expressway is divided into 16 packages, with work awarded to 13 different contractors, including Afcons Infrastructure, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Reliance Infrastructure.

As of 31 May 2021, out of the total 1699 structures including flyovers, viaducts, major and minor bridges, tunnels, interchanges, etc., construction of 1286 structures has already been completed, and the construction of 253 structures are inching towards completion. A Total 6 tunnels will be built along the expressway and the construction for all of the tunnels is underway in full swing.

Features

• The project led by MSRDC, will observe international road design and safety standards, with an intelligent highway management system for traffic surveillance.
• The expressway is designed for a top speed of 150 km/h on plain terrain and 120 km/h on hilly terrain, even though the legal speed limit remains at 120 km/h for cars and 80 km/h for trucks, enforceable by CCTV cameras, making it the fastest road network in the country, which will cut down the travel time between the two cities to eight hours from the present 16-hour.
• The Super Communication Expressway will considerably contribute to the 6% to the national trunk and freight infrastructure.
• Nearly 36% of the state population will observe the Samruddhi Corridor as a substantial growth driver, putting a direct positive impact on their livelihood.
• The MSRDC has been authorized as a nodal agency – the New Town Development Authority (NTDA) for developing 19 new townships along the route, which will include state-of-the-art healthcare facilities, skill development centers, IT parks, and educational institutions.
• The expressway will pass through 3 wildlife sanctuaries, including a 29.6 km passage through the Katepurna Wildlife Sanctuary in Akola, 29.15 km through the Karanja-Sohol Black Buck Sanctuary in Washim, and 44.975 km through the Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary in Thane.
• The Mumbai–Nagpur Expressway has been envisioned to ensure zero fatalities, and will have CCTVs^[40] and free telephone booths at every 5 km interval in case of an emergency situation.
• Truck terminals in close proximity to industrial clusters, machinery and manufacturing units, agro-processing zones, and integrated cold-chain storage facilities will be planned to build the export-ready and quick logistics infrastructure.  
• The HHBTMSM Expressway will have a separate provision for the optical fiber connectivity and gas pipelines, turning the greenfield expressway^[41] into a 'digital - ready' utility corridor.^[42]

New township development

The Government of Maharashtra has authorized MSRDC to act as the New Town Development Authority to venture into the long-term development of 19 new towns.^[43] at strategic nodes, which is also coined as 'Krushi Samruddhi Nagar.' The provisions are enacted under sub-sec (1) and section 113 of the MR & TP Act, 1966. The developmental objective to propose these new towns is to encourage the self-employment potential of the regional population through their primitive occupation, i.e., agriculture or agro-related businesses.

Every township developed under the initiative of Krushi Samruddhi Nagar will be built in on a land area of approximately 1000-1500 hectares. The new towns shall serve as the utility economic nodes for food processing industry, integrated logistics,^[44] and domestic food markets, along with education centers, skill development institutes, healthcare facilities, and commercial and residential housings. The new townships will offer huge industrial land-banks with a focus on dedicated export-oriented infrastructure and integrated logistics to ease supply chain with enhanced road connectivity for domestic markets.

The 19 new towns^[45] will be developed at strategic intersections, at a distance of 30 to 40 km^[46] from each other. These towns will be developed in two phases; phase one includes seven townships while the remaining eleven townships will be developed in phase two. The new towns will encompass essential facilities including schools, Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), skill development centers, institutes providing technical education and amp, higher education, hospitals, police stations, playgrounds, open spaces, parks and sports complexes. The new townships will be easily accessible from main roads, feeder roads, national or state highways intersecting the Samruddhi Expressway through the public transport system. The MSRDC adopted land pooling model^[47] for land acquisition,^[48] wherein 30 percent of the total land acquired under 'Krushi Samruddhi Kendra' program will be returned to landowners. The farmers will also receive compensation of Rs 50,000 per hectare for non-irrigated land and Rs 1 lakh every year for irrigated land for the next 10 years. Based on the suggestions from Wildlife Institute of India (WII), wildlife mitigation measures^[49][50] are planned and necessary structures like cattle underpasses^[51] are being built for uninterrupted wildlife movement. Around 320 private communicators^[52] were trained and deployed by MSRDC for land acquisition negotiations with prospecting landowners.

Cities and towns

Below are the lists of cities/towns through which the Mumbai–Nagpur Expressway will connect:

• Center of Bhiwandi
• North of Kalyan
• North of Ulhasnagar
• South of Shahapur
• South of Igatpuri (Nashik)
• South of Sinnar
• South of Kopargaon
• North of Shirdi
• South of Vaijapur
• North of Aurangabad Caves
• North of Shendra
• North of Jalna
• North of Sindkhed Raja
• North of Mehkar
• North of Malegaon Jahangir
• North of Karanja Lad
• South of Dhamangaon
• North of Pulgaon
• North of Wardha
• South of Seloo
• West of Butibori Power Plant
• South of MIHAN SEZ (Nagpur)

Entry/exit points

Spurs

• the Igatpuri-Vadhavan Expressway will be developed as a 90 km long spur of the Mumbai–Nagpur Expressway, to connect Igatpuri with Vadhavan Port, which is among world's 10 largest ports.^[55]

Main route: Nagpur-Mumbai

• 2025 Jun: Whole route became operational.

Spur - Igatpuri-Vadhavan

• 2025 Nov: 90 km Igatpuri-Vadhavan spur is planned.^[55]