Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari announced that India has entered the Guinness World Records for constructing the longest piece of road where bituminous concrete are laid continuously.
The plan of building 75 kilometre long stretch of bituminous concrete in a single lane on National Highway 53 was materialised by National Highways Authority of India's (NHAI) consultants and concessionaire in collaboartion with Rajpath Infracon Pvt Ltd and Jagdish Kadam.
The 75 km single lane road is estimated to be equivalent to 35 km of two-lane paved shoulder road.
The road was laid on a section of NH-53 between the Amravati and Akola districts of Maharashtra.
Congratulating the entire team, Gadkari tweeted, "Proud Moment for The Entire Nation! Feel very happy to congratulate our exceptional Team NHAI, Consultants & Concessionaire, Rajpath Infracon Pvt Ltd & Jagdish Kadam, on achieving the Guinness World Record of laying 75 Km continuous Bituminous Concrete Road in a single lane on NH-53 section between Amravati and Akola. I would specially thank our Engineers and Workers who toiled day and night to achieve this extraordinary feat."
On June 3, about 800 employees of NHAI and 720 workers of Rajpath Infracon started with the project at 7:27 am while it was at 5 pm of June 7 when the laborious effort came to and end after 105 hours and 33 minutes
Emphasizing on the importance of the newly constructed road, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said "Amravati to Akola section is part of the national highway 53, which is an important east-west corridor. It connects major cities like Kolkata, Raipur, Nagpur, Akola, Dhule, and Surat. It passes through a mineral-rich region of our country. I have been informed that nearly 35 per cent of work is completed on this stretch, from Amravati to Akola, and nearly 65 per cent in Akola to Chikli section. Therefore, with this achievement, there will be a great relief to commuters, the movement of traffic will be smooth, and the travel time will be reduced."
Previously, the Guinness World Record for building the longest stretch of bituminous concrete road was achieved by the Public Works Authority, Ashghal, Qatar, on February 27, 2019 for a 27.25 kilometer road which was part of the Al Khor Expressway and took 10 days to be completed.
