Hopes dashed already of pothole-free monsoon drive on Mumbai-Goa highway

Since it was announced in 2011, National Highway 66 has been touted as a dream thoroughfare, enabling motorists to zip between Mumbai and Goa in just six hours

Mahad: If you were dreaming of smooth, pothole-free drives on the new Mumbai-Goa highway this monsoon, prepare to be disappointed. Despite battling with authorities for the past month to get a smooth road before the monsoon, residents living along the highway have already encountered potholes just days into the monsoon.

Mumbai, India. June 11, 2024: National Highways Authority repaired the recently constructed RCC road at Vashi Naka in Raigad district. The Mumbai-Goa Highway, known as MH66, is in poor condition. Potholes on newly (RCC) construction and old road 84 Km stretch between Panvel to Indapur. (Photo by Raju Shinde/HT Photo)

Ever since it was announced in 2011, National Highway 66 has been touted as a dream thoroughfare, enabling motorists to zip between Mumbai and Goa in just six hours. However, the reality is a bone-jarring ordeal, marked by extensive stretches riddled with potholes.

The low quality of construction has been a concern right from the beginning. While the second phase of the four-lane highway has reached its final stage, with a deadline of December 2024, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has already undertaken patchwork on the first phase between Panvel and Indapur. Almost four flyovers on this stretch are also yet to be completed.

Chaitanya Patil, 28, an engineer and member of an activist group that has been campaigning for a smooth NH 66, said, “Now, NHAI is busy reconstructing or maintaining roads that were concretised six months ago. By using social media and an email campaign, we are forcing the authorities to fill the potholes.”

In 2015, Patil connected with the Mumbai-Goa Highway Dhyeypurti Samitee (MGHDS), an activist group founded by Rupesh Darge, a Mumbai resident and Konkan native. As a resident of Kasu, a village in Raigad along the highway, Patil used to witness at least one accident daily. “I used to go and help the accident victims. One fine day, I learned about the MGHDS and joined the movement.”

In the past month, Patil has successfully managed to get more than 10 potholes filled on the highway, including a spot near Indapur that recorded five accidents on a single night on May 20. Young people from MGHDS travel on this road every Sunday and on holidays, pointing out various problems with signboards and speed breakers.

There’s a patch near Pandapur-Haveli with potholes approximately 1.5 feet deep and 4-5cm in diameter. At seven to eight locations, commuters will also find multiple potholes every 200 to 300 metres. An old bridge near Kasu that was recently concretised already has leakage issues. “This is the only highway where we don’t have any drainage system, causing water from the roads to get stuck in the farmland, impacting the farming land near the highway,” said Patil.

Activists are also raising awareness among motorists about blind spots and areas of caution on the highway. Ajay Hogade, a photographer from Mumbai who travels to his native place six times a month by road, said, “We are tired of travelling by bike on this road. Since childhood, I have dreamed of riding a bike smoothly on the Mumbai-Goa highway, but that moment is yet to come. Instead, I now spread awareness about the blind spots on the highway and work-in-progress spots.”

Hogade also pointed out that the Mangaon bypass has been lying incomplete for at least seven years. “I saw the first pillar of the Mangaon bypass built in 2017. And now, in 2024, there is still no road constructed on those pillars. If the NHAI builds a road on those seven-year-old pillars, how can we expect quality from such constructions?” he said.

An NHAI official from Mumbai, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “Last year, during the Ganesh festival, we applied a topping on the wet cement road, which has resulted in the need to reconstruct some sections now. In some parts of the zero phase, our work is still ongoing, leading to potholes in certain areas. Additionally, in some stretches, local residents have halted the work for the past 10 to 15 days.”