[moralfibre]

Back in the 60s until the late 80s, the most thrilling version of travel between Mumbai and Goa was by way of a steamer ship duo of Konkan Shakti and IIRC Konkan sevak. This duo ferried a host of passengers between the coastal capitals of Mumbai and Panaji. Depending on your wallet size, one could opt for a cabin or share an open deck with a hoard of hippies that made Goa their ultimate destination kick starting Goa's advent towards tourism.





Source

The treacherous terrain of the western ghats and the coastal plains made it near impossible to create a direct railway line across the Konkan region. A train journey would mean heading down towards Belgaum and changing trains somewhere in Miraj to come down via Castle rock. One would pass by the famous Dudhsagar falls in the journey as well:



Source

The Konkan Railway project was then commissioned to establish a railway line cutting through the terrain that sees some torrential rains, goes through a very rocky and hilly terrain. 8 years of hard work later, the railway line was commissioned in 1998 and provided a much sought relief for the residents of Konkan region.

The only alternative to sailing or taking a train was hopping onto a bus or a private car to join the infamous NH17 between Bombay and Goa. I've spent countless times in the cabin of a bus just to watch an overnighter bus taking on the journey that was not only scenic but an enthusiasts delight. The road surface for most part very smooth from what I remember. The road trip ended up being over popularised after the Aamir Khan starrer "Dil Chahata Hai" hit the silver screens.

Ganesh Chaturthi is very dear to inhabitants of the Konkan region in Maharashtra. This is a time when all folks from the region return home alongwith their families to have a week full of festivities. NH17 along with the Konkan Railway is their only mode of transport in these times.

Once the Mumbai - Pune expressway connected over to the Golden Quadrilateral road network in the early 2000s, the popularity of NH17 dwindled. Simply because, being an undivided highway that passed through countless villages and numerous ghats ate up a lot of time. A normal journey via Pune and Kolhapur that takes anywhere between 9 - 12 hours would end up taking 16 on NH17.

Slowly, the traffic shifted east and NH17 was more or less left to fend itself. Being notorious for life risking accidents didn't help salvage it's reputation either. Businesses suffered and economy options for the natives dwindled slowly.

Kashedi Ghat



Source

[moralfibre]

NH17 ended up being renamed in the nationwide rechristening of the highways. Strategically, the highway connects India's port towns of JNPT / Nhava Sheva, JSW steel plant near Jaigad, the port town of Mormugao in Goa, the famous Navy bases in Karwar, the ports of Mangalore and Kochi among others. Konkan has been far perceived as California in politico dreams but never ever has anyone made an attempt to uplift the residents by facilitating good infrastructure projects for the belt.

Key projects like the Jaitapur power plant and the Nanar oil refinery met with influenced protests that continued to stall development of the region. Industries are far few and lack of key infrastructure dissuades any investor from setting foot in the region. The Konkan railway met some severe hurdles by so called environmentalists whose sole objective was to stall development of the region without any concrete alternatives. Someday we hope better sense prevails than blocking development.



Source

Somewhere around Jan'2015, the current Minister of Highways went on record to announce two key developments:

1) All highways to be made of concrete to increase daily targets of road building.
2) No project to start until 80% of required land acquisition is complete. (I so wish the land acquisition bill was passed)

Source

Two years later, 4-laning project of NH17 was announced at a cost of Rs. 12,000 crores. Source

Strategically, this highway would only extend all the way to Kanyakumari to replace a very old undivided highway on the stretch.

The work was divided in 11 packages (contracts in construction industry parlance) and contracts were handed off. As of Feb'20, work has progressed at a rapid pace and the Union minister of transport has announced completion by end of 2020.

Source

In the long term, this highway will also have a connector to the Mumbai transharbour link (Mumbai Trans Harbour Link - Connecting Southern Mumbai with Navi Mumbai). Making ingress and egress to the city easy.

[moralfibre]

Twitter user Sahil Pednekar was kind enough to let me pick the entire progress update from his timeline. All due credit to him. Do follow: https://twitter.com/sahil11p/ for some realworld updates on infra projects across the country.

For simplicity, I'll only pick updates from 2019 and 2020 for readers here:

22Mar'19

#Nh66 Mumbai goa highway
Kashedi tunnels by Reliance-CAI
They have started digging from south end.

Link








16Apr'19

Mumbai goa highway #NH66 .
Another decades old bridge bites the dust. Not sure but this one is near Nandgaon titha
PC: Pratyush Singh

Link





18Apr'19:

Mumbai goa highway #NH66
Just imagining how beautiful it wil look in monsoon with greenery on both sides and a nice tension free ride. A few pics of completed section between talgaon and kalmath.

Link









02Jun'19

Mumbai goa highway #NH66
Street signs,Crash barriers,lane markings have started to appear between Kankavli and sawantwadi. DBL is making fast progress. the only thing remaining in this section wil b kudal overpass and kankavli flyover
PC: Abhishek Patwardhan

Link






02Jun'19

Mumbai goa highway #Nh66
Another dual section done in khed by Chetak enterprise
All the contractors are trying to complete as much work as possible before infamous monsoon hits konkan.Sangameshwar section is lagging majorly behind bcz of its hilly terrain
PC; Shankar deb

Link






08Jun'19

Mumbai goa highway #nh66
Between kudal and sawantwadi bypass. Overpasses are opened even though parapet walls are missing. A few asphalt sections for ramps and exit/entry points are also done.

Link









08Jun'19

Mumbai goa highway #nh66
Between kudal and Tarele. A few overpasses, bridges have been opened. Small plants have been planted from kankavli onwards. Streets lights poles are can seen in last pic for kasarde overpass

Link









11Jun'19

Mumbai goa highway #nh66
Between Tarele to Lanja. KCC buildcon have been excellent in completing its section. All the old bridges have been demolished and trying to open one lane of bridges to traffic asap. Hills on this section have been majorly cut to straighten the road

Link

[moralfibre]

23Jun'19

Mumbai goa highway #nh66
A few pics of completed section near Nandgaon. The different shades of green is taking over
Pc:best of sindhudurg

Link









18Jul'19

#nh66 Mumbai goa highway
Wadkhal naka bypass
For upcoming ganapati chaturthi they have opened one side of flyover for both way traffic but expect ride to b bumpy as it's opened in peak monsoon
Pc:Gopal kamath

Link







27Aug'19

Mumbai goa highway #Nh66
Near my village from Tarele to Nandgaon which also contains one of the longest straight line stretch
(4 kms) as against the normal curvy stretches of konkan
PC: Best of sindhudurg

Link









30Aug'19

#nh66 Mumbai goa highway
One side of Humrat phata flyover before kankavli going towards goa has been opened for both way traffic

Link

[moralfibre]

01Oct'19

#nh66 Mumbai goa highway
As one of the intense monsoon season in recent years comes comes to end, work once again starts on the highway. One side of Humrat phata near kankavli opened
Pc :best of sindhudurg

Link







02Nov'19

Mumbai goa highway #nh66
KCC buildcon back to work after monsoons. Pics from rajapur onwards includes laying asphalt on completed bridges, demolishing old ones, laying DLC, piers for bridges
Pc:vinod

Link










03Nov'19

#nh66 Mumbai goa highway
One of the most challenging part of widening the highway was to minimize twists and turns and keeping it straight especially in the ghats, here is one such in sindhudurg

Link






03Dec'19

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
Rajapur bridge across Arjuna river,thus bypassing the old zig zag section
PC; Shravan Kumar

Link









11Dec'19

#nh66
Mumbai goa highway
Post ratnagiri towards Goa more than
70% road widening is complete. This weekend, I wil b in western MH, wil try to get pics of work happening there
PC:Sameer mhatre

Link







16Dec'19

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
Not entirely sure but this one is before Nandgaon titha
PC:Best of Sindhudurg

Link








17Dec'19

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
KCC buildcon really completed its part quickly in Sindhudurg.Signages,bus stops are up too .3rd pic is of Tarele overpass

Link









26Dec'19

#nh66
Mumbai goa highway
Another overpass done complete with road markings and everything in Kasarde. Looks an absolute blast to drive, unimaginable it would look like this til a few years ago
Pc:best of sindhudurg

Link

[moralfibre]

12Jan'20

#nh66
Mumbai goa highway
Clean road markings really adds a bit more to the highway
Sindhudurg district
Pc :best of sindhudurg

Link









21Jan'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
Going a bit north now, some pics closer to Rajapur

Link









23Jan'20

#Nh66
Mumbai goa highway
Some pqc laying pics
1, 2) Mahad(L&T)
3, 4)Ahead of chiplun towards goa(chetak enterprise)
Pc:Chandan Srivastava, shankar deb

Link










23Jan'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
Humbrat phata overpass. Now the 1st pic wil be pretty awesome in rains :P with greens of all shades around

Link








25Jan'20

#nh66
Mumbai goa highway
Got an update between lanja and ratnagiri.
The regular updates on social media from locals shows how much they have been waiting for this highway. It's a matter of pride for pple of konkan. Can't thank
@nitin_gadkari enough for it

Link









13Feb'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
laying of service roads inside wat looks like chiplun?
PC:Shankar Deb

Link






19Feb'20

#NH66
Canacona bypass, Goa
Pc:montechristo Gonsalves

Link




20Feb'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
Kashedi tunnel
Reliance has started digging from Poladpur side
PC:Sk's World

Link





25Feb'20

#NH66,Kasarde,MH
The new face of Mumbai goa highway.4 lane divided broader safer one

Link



28Feb'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
One of the two ROBs at Tarele. This one is at Jn. where SH leads to Vijaydurg fort. The other flyover down the road is u/c

Link

[moralfibre]

09Mar'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
Soil erosion control mats in sindhudurg, at certain places they have placed green mats which helps in growing small vegetation
Pc:Rajesh khuswaha

Link





11Mar'20

#NH66
Mumbai Goa highway
Vadkhal Bypass
Finally !!! the flyover is completed ,now the only thing they have to do is connect the old and new seamlessly at Mumbai end of highway

Link





15Apr'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway,
Nandgive (kharepatan)
1)November '19
2)March'20

Link

Before:



After:



16Apr'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
Work has resumed in Mahad
Sorry for blurry pic
Pc:Omprakash

Link







17Apr'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
Chetak enterprises has restarted work in Khed, a small update now but wil keep updating as proper road works starts
Pc:Shankar deb

Link



17Apr'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
One of the longest flyovers on the highway(2.5 kms) completely bypasses Kankavli town ,built by Dilip Buildcon
PC:Konkan beauty

Link









18Apr'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
L&T back to work in Mahad
Pc:avik Chakraborty

Link



19Apr'20

#nh66
Mumbai goa highway
The fastest of the lot, KCC buildcon is back in action. Except for flyover work, KCC would have completed its section from rajapur to kankavli

Link









20Apr'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
Kankavli.
1) Bridges over river on south side of town are done
2) Approach ramp to flyover from south side
3)Approach ramp to flyover from north side
4)One side bridge is done in north side of town, piers are up for other side too

Link









28Apr'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway, Mahad
Bridge over Gandhari river u/c and after the curve wil be Gandharpale caves
Pc:Johnny

Link



04May'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
near kharepatan
PC:Harshad Gundaye

Link



05May'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
At Poldapur(L&T section)
Pc:Shashikant yadav

Link





06May'20

#NH66
Vadkhal bypass getting much needed lane marking

Link

[moralfibre]

08May'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
Chiplun-Hathkhamba
Laying of pqc at night and the day after
Pc:Shankar deb

Link









15May'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
All the overbridges completed in Sindhudurg have street lights installed and have been working well, it really helps in road visibility .Hope they are maintained in upcoming brutal konkan monsoon
Here is one from kudal
PC:Rahul patil

Link



17May'20

#Nh66
Mumbai goa highway
3)The famous small temple in the middle of road where every regular passerby used to honk once .....i think its before lanja when going towards Mumbai,now its on the side of northbound lane
PC: ganesh parab

Link







20May'20

#nh66
Mumbai goa highway
Post chiplun towards goa by Chetak enterprise
Pc: Shankar deb

Link








22May'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
Rajapur bridge. 280m Vaiduct, 35m height. It wil totally eliminate the twists and turns which leads to current bridge from both sides
Placing of girders has started
Pc:Ramesh bhosale

Link









27May'20

#Nh66
Oni Overpass before Watul....Its been progress since work restarted last month. 2 PQC machines are working.They might open one side before monsoon
PC:
@BhingardeRohan

Link

27May'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
Pandur overpass, a long one in sindhudurg is full ready with street lights
and everything
Pc:Shubham nandanwar

Link









28May'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
Kashedi ghat
Pier work for Vaiduct start at southern end. Pile Integrity test being conducted on pics
Pc:S&R geotechniques

Link










29May'20

#Nh66
Mumbai goa highway
Wadpale-Bhogaon (L&T)
Looks like Mahad
PC:Chandan srivastava

Link



31May'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
Just ahead of Mahad, vahoor village. L&T has picked up pace ever since work restarted

Link

[moralfibre]

05Jun'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
1)Humrat phata ?(pc:best of sindhudurg)
2)3)4)Just before Rajapur near hativale, a ghat road has been straightened and both sides wil b opened soon

Link









08Jun'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
Rajapur bridge
The old vs new
Laying of girders on new one started on 21st May. 6 piers covered, 1 to go

Link





12Jun'20

#NH66
Mumbai Goa highway
One side of Bhoste ghat is now open for traffic

Link









14Jun'20

#NH66
Finally after years of work,piece by piece panvel-Indapur stretch is taking final shape.Seen here is Kharpada-Panvel section. All the bridges,overpasses are done
1)An overpass before karnala
2)Before karnala
3)karnala is 6 lane
4)between karnala-Panvel
PC:Akshay's world

Link









15Jun'20

#NH66
vadkhal bypass
South side approach to highway is well integrated. Main bridge is done and looks good.Northern side bridge to connect with highway is still not done. The structure is ready but asphalt not laid so that will b a sore point
Pc:Akshay' world

Link









15Jun'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
Between lanja and rajapur
It literally snakes through the region

17Jun'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
L&T has opened one side of Gandharpale caves overpass
Pc:Chandan Srivastava

Link










18Jun'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
KCC buildcon has uploaded a few pics from their completed section from lanja to kankavli. They are from May, now the highway looks fresh,waiting for some nice green pics

Link

[moralfibre]

19Jun'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway.Sorry but keep expecting more pics of this highway this monsoon,I just cant get enough of it 😇
Its just keeps getting better with passing showers.Somewhere near Kankavli
PC: Konkan beauty

Link









21Jun'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
Pics of the day, this time from Zarap side. Fresh from huge amount of rain since last week

Link









25Jun'20

#nh66
Mumbai goa highway
Time for some monsoon pics.
Between kankavli and Nandgaon
Pc:rishabh khadye

Link









28Jun'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
kashedi-Parshuram ghat (KT Infra)
Near Khed
Some 75% of work is done,one of the best stretches to drive from base of kashedi upto Khed stn with mountains on both sides and river flowing next to highway for few kms
PC: Ajay Padyal/Omkar Jadhav

Link





28Jun'20

#NH66
Mumbai goa highway
Not the clearest of the pic but road u/c leading to kashedi tunnel from goa side can be seen below marked in blue
PC: Devendra Darekar

Link

[moralfibre]

Some Youtube channels have covered the status of highway works with drive / ride videos:

Between Kankavli and Talere:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vWb8D6-O98

Vadkhal Naka:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX9w74_OaZg

Karnala to Panvel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxgknKZHHto

An update from Feb'20 just before lockdown:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKWXWBYONsQ

Unknown location uploaded on 07Jun'20:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmGkPC2ab08

[moralfibre]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Street Experiences Section.

[vharihar]

Fantastic!

BTW, NH66 is not just till Goa, but rather continues on till Kanyakumari via Thiruvananthapuram. It's a 4-laned West Coast Hwy.

[vigsom]

Thank You for the pics and videos, @moralfibre.

You transported me to another world !!!

[Hayek]

Amazing pictures Moralfibre. Must say you recent threads on infra development have all been stupendous. I do hope they are able to complete this by the end of the year - so that I can take a Post Covid drive to Goa on NH66.