Mumbai To Goa In Just 6 Hours, New Expressway Work Under Process

In a major development, the Maharashtra Government is planning to build a new 376 Km long expressway connecting Mumbai to Goa, called the Konkan Expressway.

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) will oversee the construction of this 6-lane access-controlled highway. The proposed Greenfield Expressway will run along the scenic Konkan coast.

According to DNA India, the work on preparing Konkan Expressway’s Detailed Project Report (DPR) has already begun and the MSRDC has started the process of getting approval from the Environment Department for the highway, as per NBT. This new corridor will significantly reduce travel time while providing a comfortable experience to all the commuters.

The new expressway will connect Panvel (Navi Mumbai) and Sindhudurg via Raigad and Ratnagiri and is expected to reduce the travel time from Mumbai to Sindhudurg to 6 hours from the current 12-13 hours. According to an MSRDC official, the expressway will comprise a total of 14 interchanges.

Reportedly, the project will be constructed at an estimated cost of a whopping Rs 68,000 crore and will require approximately 3,792 hectares of land, including 146 hectares of forest land for the upcoming corridor.

As per the official, the expressway will benefit travellers commuting from Mumbai to Goa by reducing travel time from 12 hours to mere six hours. The Konkan Expressway is also expected to boost tourism and create job opportunities in the districts surrounding the highway.

On the other hand, the already sanctioned Mumbai-Goa Expressway is likely to be operational from December 2024. In 2011, the central government decided to widen Mumbai-Goa National Highway 66 from two to four lanes, promising a smooth, pothole-free trip and cutting travel time by five hours. With the initial deadline of 2016, the project is still under development even after 13 years.

Earlier in June this year it was reported that the 42 km stretch between Panvel and Kasu is 99 percent completed and the highway will be completely operational in December. Divided into 11 “packages” or phases for speedy completion, the total length of the Mumbai-Goa Highway 66 is 460 km.

The Mumbai-Goa Highway is being constructed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the state-government-led National Highway Public Works Department (NH PWD).