The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is the longest expressway in the world, passing through 4 different states
Akankshya Mukherjee, Mumbai Uncensored, 2nd February 2022 :
The world’s longest expressway from Delhi to Mumbai is currently being constructed, a dream project by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. It is an 8-lane wide expressway that will be expandable to 12 lanes will connect India’s national capital, New Delhi with its financial capital, Mumbai depending upon the volume of the traffic. The project is maintained by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The project will be completed by March 2023.
Shri Nitin J. Gadkari, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, concluded a two-day review in September of the work progress on the 1380km 8-lane expressway, reducing travel time between Delhi and Mumbai from 24 hours to 12-13 hours. The Union Minister toured Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat for 2 days to review the project’s progress.
The total estimated cost of this project is Rs 98,000 crore with a length of 1380 km. Out of 1380 km, it contracts for more than 1200 km, where work is still in progress. The project’s first phase from Delhi to Jaipur & Vadodara to Ankleshwar is expected to work for traffic by March 2022. The project was started in 2018 with the foundation stone being laid by Union Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari in the presence of Sushma Swaraj & Arun Jaitley on 9th March 2019.
The expressway will have wayside amenities – restaurants, resorts, fuel stations, food courts, facilities for truckers, and logistics parks. The expressway will also have a helicopter ambulance service for accident victims and a heliport, which will use drone services for business activities. 2 million shrubs and trees are planned to be planted along the expressway.
The highway is the 1st in the entire of Asia and 2nd in the World to feature animal overpasses to facilitate unrestricted wildlife movement. The highway will include two iconic 8-lane tunnels, one tunnelling through Mukundra sanctuary without annoying the endangered animal life in the region for 4 km, and the second 4 km 8-lane tunnel will pass through the Matheran eco-sensitive zone. The expressway will also help in annual fuel savings of more than 320 million litres and CO2 emissions of 850 million kg, equivalent to planting 40 million trees.
More than 12 lakh tonnes will be used in construction. 80 lakh tonnes of cement will be consumed for the project, around 2% of India’s annual cement production capacity. The project has also created a lot of employment opportunities for thousands of trained civil engineers and more than 50 lakh people-days of work.
Major benefits of this highway are Promoting industrial growth, Addressing environmental concerns, Reducing travel time, Development and employment opportunities, and being Animal friendly.
