Commuters on Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway will continue to suffer till April 2025

Concerns about the safety of vehicles and passengers commuting on Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway due to ongoing work on NH 48

Date: July 6, 2024

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has announced that the ongoing work on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway is likely to be completed in the next 10 months. As per information, the completion timeline for this is set for April 30, 2025.

This development comes amid rising concerns about the safety of vehicles and passengers commuting on Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway due to ongoing work between Dahisar and Achhad (Gujarat border) on National Highway (NH) 48.

With this, the traffic problems on a section of the Mumbai-Gujarat highway will continue until the end of April 2025.

One primary concern is the increased height of the road by 1.5 feet due to white topping, a process of road concreting as the height of the safety barriers has not been adjusted accordingly. Therefore, raising fears about the effectiveness of these barriers in preventing accidents.

According to the NHAI, only 37% of the white-topping work has been completed on the 121-kilometer stretch which started in December 2023, and the work is expected to be finished by the end of April 2025.

White topping is a technique of concreting the upper layer of a road after scraping and levelling the existing road.

Moreover, work on three vehicle underpasses is set to be completed by March 2025.

Reports indicate that since the initiation of the roadwork, at least 40 individuals have lost their lives on NH48.

Pointing out various issues faced during the construction, an official stated that this highway falls under a very high rainfall zone. There is significant traffic congestion due to 13-14 construction zones on the highway, including white topping at five to six locations. In such places, a minimum of two lanes are kept open for traffic.

It is pertinent to note that NH48 is a 121 km project in Maharashtra and is one of the only connectors of northern states to Palghar, Vasai-Virar, and Mumbai.