Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has announced that his ministry will spend Rs 5,000 crore within the next two-and-a-half years to upgrade the Nashik-Mumbai national highway. Gadkari was addressing a gathering in Nashik after foundation stone laying ceremony of 206-km long 12 National Highway projects worth Rs 1,678 crore in Nashik, Maharashtra. The minister also mentioned that the Greenfield Expressway project from Surat-Nashik-Ahmednagar-Solapur to Chennai has been approved by the ministry.
Surat-Nashik-Ahmednagar-Solapur to Chennai Greenfield Expressway Project is an access control route and after completion of the project the distance between Surat to Solapur will be reduced to 95 km and the distance to travel from Surat to Chennai will be reduced to about 200 km. The project is expected to be completed in three years.
The distance from Pimpri-Chinchwad to Gonde is 20 km. Pimprisado to Gonde road to have six lanes. After the six lanes, Nashik residents will travel to Mumbai by a six-lanes road. The estimated cost will be Rs 600 crore. Nashik Road to Dwarka Chowk, an elevated corridor, is a part of Nashik-Pune (R.M. No. 50) and recently has been included in the Bharatmala project. Due to this project, the journey from Nashik Road to Dwarka will be done in half the time.