Mumbai: The longest tunnel in Maharashtra is ready on the Mumbai-Nagpur Samridhi Expressway connecting the state’s sub-capital Nagpur (Nagpur) with the country’s financial capital Mumbai. . The civil work of about 7.78 km long double tunnel has been completed. The tunnel is being built through AFCON Company on the Mumbai-Nagpur Green Express Field Way at Vasala near Igatpuri on the border of Nashik and Thane districts.
According to MSRDC officials, this tunnel is the longest and widest highway tunnel in Maharashtra among the six tunnels to be built on the way to the Greenfield Expressway. This 3-lane double tunnel is 7.78 km on the left and 7.74 km on the right and is 35 meters wide.
It takes 20 to 25 minutes to cross the ghat
At present, it takes 20 to 25 minutes for motorists to cross Kasara Ghat, while this tunnel will be able to cross Kasara Ghat in just 5 to 6 minutes. The construction work of the concrete road inside the Twin Tunnel has now been completed, which is the most important work after the tunneling work. Now the electrical works like installing lights, fans and other works are pending. Those too will be completed soon.
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New Australian Tunneling Method
The tunnels at Samridhi are designed to last for 100 years and have a vehicular speed limit of over 120 kmph. The tunnel was reported to have been built using a modern technique called the ‘New Australian Tunneling Method’, also known as the ‘design as you go’ method. According to the Afcons official, the last layer of the road in the tunnel is jo (pavement quality concrete). The entire tunnel work in Samridhi Package 14 has been completed. Only final finishing works like Tunnel MEP works with curbs, crash barriers are left.
continuing work in covid
According to MSRDC MD Radheshyam Mopalwar, the critical tunnel work continued even during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Ground Force has had to go through many challenges. This work is being accomplished through engineers and about two thousand workers.
Build Prosperity in 16 Packages
Officials said that the Samruddhi highway is being built in a total of 16 packages, covering 10 districts between Mumbai and Nagpur and the first phase of the country’s fastest expressway is going to open soon. In the first phase, the target is to open the Nagpur-Shirdi road soon. It was told that about 97 percent work has been done from Nagpur to Shirdi.
Expressway will pass through 10 districts
This green expressway, to be built at a cost of about Rs 55,000 crore, will pass through 10 districts of the state. These include Thane, Nashik, Ahmednagar, Jalna, Aurangabad, Buldhana, Washim, Amravati, Wardha and Nagpur. Work is also going on to construct facilities like petrol, CNG pump, electric charger hotel etc. on the expressway.