The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has plans to construct around 10 to 15 flyovers on the Old Mumbai-Pune Highway in the coming years. These flyovers will be constructed on the lines of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway, whi-ch now boasts of flyovers at all major intersections.
“With the increasing traffic on Mumbai-Pune Expressway, we anticipate that even the Old Mumbai-Pune Highway will witness more vehicles in the coming years. Therefore, it is better to plan and have a proper infrastructure in place,” confirmed A.V. Deodhar, superintending engineer with MSRDC and in-charge of the project.
The state will augment the capacity of the old highway, also known as National Highway-4, by constructing around 10 to 15 flyovers. “Our aim is to ensure seamless travel so that the accident rate is curtailed to the minimum. There are several villages on the way and the traffic from it converges at these junctions or intersections, making it accident prone as reckless motorists accelerate without thinking about the possible dangers on the highway,” added Mr Deodhar.
The infrastructure on NH4 will be similar to that of Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway (National Highw-ay 8), where each of the major intersections like Kashimira for Mira-Bhayander, Naigaon Phata for Naigaon, Sativali Phata for Naigaon and Vasai, Tungareshwar Phata for Tungareshwar, etc now have flyovers.
This project of flyovers on NH4 is part of the MSRDC’s Rs 2,600 crore-plan of augmenting Mumbai-Pune Expressway and segregating the highways connecting both the cities. The entire project will be implemented on a public-private partnership basis.