Ahmedabad - Mumbai Expressway

Soon you will be able to race down to Mumbai from Ahmedabad in five hours flat. Ahmedabad-Mumbai expressway is on the road to reality. National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has called for bids from consultants for preliminary design, feasibility report for Vadodara-Mumbai stretch and estimate of the project which is much-awaited by both Gujaratis and Mumbaikars. The drive from Ahmedabad to Mumbai will take less time than Shatabdi journey, which takes over seven hours. For Barodians, Mumbai will be no more than four hours away, while it’s euphoria time for Surti businessmen. Officials said expressway would be designed for a speed of 120 km per hour. Amenities are proposed at 50-km, and smaller parking areas with toilet facilities at 25-km intervals. The tender bid said firm awarded contract for study would be given just nine months from November. The expressway would definitely touch all major cities en route to Mumbai. The 400-km Vadodara-Mumbai expressway project is under phase VI of National Highway Development Project (NHDP). Sources said the decision took final shape last week. It will be on BOT (build-operate-transfer) basis where designing, financing, building and operating will be responsibility of the party chosen. According to officials, the stretch carries one of the highest volumes of traffic among existing national highway routes. The consultant would have to study feasibility of expressway corridor on technical and financial grounds. The proposal also states that natural environment, human habitation and heritage sites have to be fully protected while designing the project. The tender bid posted on NHAI website says safety in design, construction and operation has to be integrated in planning. Infrastructure for user amenities, operation and maintenance, incident management and user information system will also be part of the study. A break-up of traffic using expressway — in terms of cars, public transport vehicles and freight carriers — and projected traffic will have to be prepared. “The firm will have to give four to five proposals for purchase of land. Selection of expressway alignment will be after weighing pros and cons of each alternative. Government of Gujarat has earmarked a corridor for this and if chosen alignment falls into this, project can be completed quickly,” said officials.