Konkan Expressway to Open Soon: Mumbai to Goa in Just 6 Hours

New Delhi. There is great news for tourists travelling to Goa. The Konkan Expressway, also referred to as New Mumbai-Goa Highway, will be opening soon. Their claim suggests that once the expressway becomes available for traffic, it would now only require six hours to make the journey from Mumbai to Goa. At present, the journey takes more than 12 hours. Treaty Minister Gadkari shared this information while addressing a program in Dadar on Monday. He said: 'Regarding the Mumbai-Goa highway, there were a number of challenges, but don’t worry… we will achieve 100% road work completion by this June.' Referring to the challenges in this pivotal road project, Gadkari highlighted that there were sibling brawls, legal battles, and never-ending complications in providing land for the compensation. All these issues have now been resolved, and the work on Mumbai-Goa highway is proceeding at full speed.

The Pacific Highway in California served as the model for the construction of the Konkan Expressway. The breathtaking beauty of the expressway is unparalleled. Travelling on it is said to be as much fun as going on a picnic. It has been proposed that this expressway, which is 376 kilometers long and is being constructed along the coastline of Konkan, be called ‘Konkani Expressway.’ Moreover, a 120 km stretch of road is also being constructed along the expressway which increases the total distance to 498km. According to ”estimates” the budgeted amount spent on construction is estimated to be around 68,000 crores rupees.”

Mentioned below are the routes planned for the expressway:

This expressway will create connections from Panvel (Navimumbai) to Sindhudurg which will include Ratnagiri and Raigad. Moreover, it will also span across 17 talukas in Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, and Raigad covering a total of 232 villages. Furthermore, 14 interchanges have been added on the expressway, allowing for greater convenience.

Construction started in 2011

As claimed by NHAI, the work on stretch of road under the expressway under construction is nearing completion. In respect to the project stated above, pieces of work were initiated in the year 2011; In stages, the road construction is from ‘Panvel to Kasu’ section (42.3 Km) and‘Kasu to Indapur’(42.3Km) Indapur. This expressway also had to acquire 146 hectares of forests.

41 tunnels and 21 bridges

Tunnels and bridges are being constructed to enable passage over the difficult terrain, rivers and mountains of the Konkan region. The construction of 41 tunnels and 21 major bridges has been completed on Konkan expressway. There will also be 41 small bridges in various districts along this route. The largest bridge over dharamtar creak in Karja is 10.2 km, which has been constructed. The remaining 7 big bridges will have a combined length of approximately 27Km.