Eight-Lane Tunnel Being Excavated Under Matheran Hills to Reduce Travel Time on Delhi-Mumbai Expressway | Pictures and Video
As the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is getting ready, an eight-lane tunnel is being excavated under Matheran hills near Mumbai to further reduce travel time and traffic congestion.
A 4.39 km, 8-lane tunnel is being excavated under the hills of Matheran’s eco-sensitive zone to help in conveniently reaching Delhi from Mumbai. The tunnel starts at the Morbe village in the foothills of Matheran near Panvel. It extends all the way, ending at Bhoj village near Ambernath in the Thane district.
This 4.39 km long tunnel is a part of the Vadodara-Mumbai stretch of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway. Eight cross passages (connections between tunnel tubes, generally termed as egress and intervention routes) are being made in this tunnel.
The excavation work for building the 8-lane tunnel is going on between Badlapur in Thane district, and Panvel below Matheran hills. This project aims to drastically cut the travel time between Badlapur and Panvel from one and a half hours to just 15 minutes over a 38 km stretch.
Check out a drone footage of the entire project by Jaideep Kane:
As per the reports, the construction cost of the tunnel will be Rs 1,453 crores and is expected to be completed by 2025.
Spanning 1350 km, the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is expected to be the longest expressway in the world and will connect Delhi to the JNPT port in Uran in Mumbai. Once fully operational this expressway will reduce the travel time between Mumbai and Delhi from the current 24 hours to a mere 12 hours by road.
