With the Vadodara–Mumbai Expressway’s Virar–JNPA peripheral curve nearing completion, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has drawn up plans for a new 14km link road from Morbe to Kalamboli via Taloja to ensure seamless freight movement to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA).
According to a report by The Times of India, the proposed link will give the Mumbai Metropolitan Region faster peripheral access to the Atal Setu and the Navi Mumbai airport. The move also comes amid prolonged delays in the Virar–Alibaug corridor, which was originally intended to serve as a parallel ring route and as an extension of the expressway’s southern arm.
The Vadodara–Mumbai Expressway is a key segment of the Delhi–Mumbai Corridor being developed to connect the national capital with Mumbai and its busiest container port. In Maharashtra, the eight-lane, access-controlled highway is under construction between Talasari and Virar and from Morbe towards JNPA, with overall progress at around 70%.
At Morbe near Badlapur, where the expressway currently ends, NHAI has nearly completed a tunnel. From this point, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) was earlier expected to extend the road to Karanjade near Panvel.
According to officials, the latest developments indirectly signal a postponement of the multi-crore Virar–Alibaug corridor. The Centre and the state have now authorised NHAI to link the under-construction six-lane expressway to Kalamboli through a 14km connector. This stretch—earlier part of a 21km greenfield section planned by MSRDC and common to both the corridor and the expressway—will now be developed independently by NHAI.
A large portion of the 14km alignment already exists through Taloja MIDC and will be widened to match the highway’s width. “We only need to build the initial 4km from Morbe to Taloja; the remaining 10km will be widened,” an NHAI official was quoted by the newspaper as saying. The original alignment from Morbe was expected to continue for 21km towards Karanjade under MSRDC’s Virar–Alibaug plan.
However, with the MSRDC project facing repeated delays and remaining largely on paper, NHAI has opted to create a shorter, more cost-effective connection to Kalamboli instead of Karanjade. MSRDC’s proposal had included land acquisition and a Morbe–Karanjade link forming part of the route to Alibaug.
Officials confirmed that the Rs 100 crore Morbe–Kalamboli link project has been cleared by the state secretariat. MSRDC managing director Anil Gaikwad did not respond to repeated calls seeking comment.
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