Samruddhi Corridor

Why in News?

• The Expressway will reduce the time taken to 839-km distance between Nagpur and Mumbai, to seven hours. This currently takes at least 17 hours.
• The Expressway, also called Samruddhi corridor, built at a project outlay of ₹55,335 crore, runs past 392 villages across 10 districts.
• This six-lane access-controlled road, designed for a top speed of 150 kmph, is the second expressway in the State after the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.
• The Expressway will have direct links to the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Navi Mumbai, which will facilitate rapid transportation of goods, agricultural products and other resources from Maharashtra to various markets across the country and abroad as well.
• The Samruddhi corridor is expected to directly impact about 36% of the State’s population, and will be the country’s most extensive ‘greenfield’ route alignment with 23.65 lakh saplings and over 11 lakh trees on both sides.
• It passes through three wildlife sanctuaries:
  • 6 km through the Katepurna wildlife sanctuary in Akola;
  • 15 km via the Karanja-Sohol Black Buck sanctuary in Washim; and
  • 975 km through the Tansa wildlife sanctuary in Thane.

Q1) What is the difference between a highway and an expressway?

The major difference between an expressway and a highway is the access control. Expressways have controlled access where a vehicle can enter it only through a limited place and no other road merges with/crosses the expressway anywhere, thereby avoiding possible accidents. While in the case of highways, there are multiple roads which merge with/cross the highways at many places.