A major accident was averted as a big slab of the bridge on the Hindu Hriday Samrat Late Balasaheb Thackeray Samruddhi Expressway collapsed near Maliwada on Friday evening.
A motorcyclist had just crossed underneath the bridge before the collapse of the slab, and a major mishap was averted. The contractor company responsible for the maintenance of the expressway immediately started the repair work.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday inaugurated the final 76-km-long stretch of the Samruddhi Mahamarg, making the entire 701-km Mumbai-Nagpur corridor fully functional and bringing down the travel time between the two cities to 8 hours from around 18 hours.
Notably, the 701-km-long Samruddhi Expressway, built at a cost of around Rs 55,000 crore, is one of India's longest expressways. It passes through 10 districts of Maharashtra, including major urban centers like Amravati, Aurangabad, and Nashik.
The first stretch of the Samruddhi Expressway was opened for traffic around two years ago. The expressway was an ambitious project of the state government with the aim of reducing long-distance travel time. It extends from Nagpur to Mumbai, and the entire road is presently open to traffic. A huge amount of money has been spent on the construction of the road. However, the quality of the work done has come under the scanner after the incident of the slab collapse near Maliwada.
Local residents informed that a major portion of the slab underneath the bridge suddenly collapsed just a few seconds after a motorcyclist passed under it. Fortunately, the slab did not fall on him, and no other vehicles were passing when the incident occurred.
The contractor company immediately started the repair work. However, the confidence of residents in the Samruddhi Expressway’s construction has been shaken after the incident. People are now questioning the quality of the work, as the slab collapsed just two years after the road opened.
