Mumbai-Goa Highway: New Deadline, 13-Hour Journey to 6 Hours; Why the Delay?

• The Mumbai-Goa National Highway (NH-66) widening project, started in 2013, has faced significant delays, primarily due to incomplete work on four flyovers and two bypass roads.
• The Panvel-Kasu-Indapur stretch (84 km) is largely complete, offering a smoother journey, but major bottlenecks occur beyond Indapur.
• The Indapur to Zarap stretch (470 km) is hampered by the Indapur (3 km) and Mangaon (7 km) bypasses, which required new tenders and are now expected to finish by March 2027.
• Four flyovers in Ratnagiri district (Lanaja, Nivali, Pali, Sangameshwar), each 800 meters long, have been incomplete for two years and are targeted for completion by March 2026.
• An engineer, Chaitanya Patil, conducted a 29-day walkathon, documenting deficiencies and submitting a report to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, highlighting the project's issues.

Why It Matters: Mumbai-Goa Highway's 6-hour travel goal is delayed until 2027 due to incomplete bypasses and flyovers.