The Hindu Hruday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg, which is an upcoming expressway between Mumbai-Nagpur, is all set to feature under and overpasses to allow for smoother movement of natural wildlife. This will be India’s first highway to feature such a facility and is sure to keep the fauna around the region more mobile. According to a report by TOI, a total of 17 underpasses, and nine overpasses will be built along the expressway, which is said to be 701 kilometres in length. Furthermore, leopard-proof fences will be constructed alongside green bridges, that the animals don’t end up on the tarmac.
RL Mopalwar, Managing Director of MSRDC, spoke to TOI and told the publication that this was the first time in the country that any highway will have so many wildlife structures and green bridges. “Most of these structures are 32, 45, and 60 metres wide and 120 metres long. These will have plantations and will look like a natural forest path to allow animals to cross safely even as traffic will pass under them. These will also have noise barriers so that animals don’t feel threatened," he added.
The construction for this mega expressway, which is expected to cut travel time from Mumbai to Nagpur to eight hours, is likely to be completed by December 2022. It is a six-lane, Rs 55,000 crore project that will connect various industrial areas like Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC), Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), dry ports of Wardha and Jalna and JNPT in Mumbai.
Since this is expressway crosses the 390 villages in 10 districts, there are almost 117 kilometres of the area which covers wildlife habitats, eco-sensitive zones (ESZ) of three sanctuaries – Tansa, Karanja Sohol and Katepurna – along with tiger corridors, it makes sense to construct a sizeable number of wildlife structures all along the expressway.
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This is said to include seven overpass bridges, 89 underpasses and box culverts to allow better passage to the animals in and around the area.
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