Mumbai: The long-awaited widening of Mumbai-Goa national highway, crucial for easing traffic between the state capital and Konkan, continues to face delays due to ongoing works at four flyovers and two bypass roads.Work on widening the two-lane national highway to four lanes began in 2013. The Panvel-Kasu-Indapur 84km stretch, being executed by the National Highways Authority of India, is almost complete and offers relatively smooth driving. But the real trouble for Mumbai-Goa traffic begins beyond Indapur, said officials.
The Indapur-Zarap stretch, covering nearly 470km, is being directly handled by the Union ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH). The biggest obstacles here are the 3km Indapur bypass and the 7km Mangaon bypass. Though both were part of the original contract, they were not executed on time, forcing MoRTH to issue fresh tenders six months ago. Work has now begun, but completion is unlikely before March 2027, thus restricting the current travel time between Mumbai and Goa to eight to nine hours instead of the promised six hours.As a result, motorists passing through Indapur and Mangaon face severe traffic snarls, particularly during peak hours, with damaged road surfaces compounding the problem. Officials said the present roads passing through Indapur and Mangaon have been widened for the traffic to give a temporary relief to motorists. However, motorists said in the towns, internal and outside traffic clash to create jams during peak hours.Beyond Mangaon, conditions improve considerably. The road widening is progressing well, and the stretch from Parshuram Ghat to Zarap is almost ready. However, the slow pace of flyover construction at four locations — at Lanja, Nivali, Pali, and Sangameshwar, each around 800m in length, near Ratnagiri — has been affecting Mumbai-Goa traffic for nearly two years. MoRTH officials said these flyovers are targeted for completion by March 2026, after which vehicles will be allowed to use them. Officials, however, stressed that the highway is not uniformly in poor condition. Congestion is largely limited to active construction zones. Service roads have been provided near flyover sites to keep traffic moving.“Excluding these four flyovers and two bypasses, it is already possible to drive from Panvel to Goa in eight to nine hours,” said Prashant Fegde, MoRTH’s Mumbai regional officer and project head.The issue drew wider attention after Chaitanya Patil, an engineer, undertook a 29-day, 470km march along the Mumbai-Goa highway to document gaps, hazards and possible solutions. He submitted a detailed report to Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari.
