MSH4
Maharastran State Highway Number 4, MSH4. Or simply NH4.
NH4 starts at Mandwa on the South side of Mumbai Harbour and runs Southwards through the Konkan region to Terekhol at the Maharastran border with Goa. In places it is called ‘The Coastal Highway’. Despite the name it is not a Highway. In places it is a single lane ribbon of tarmac. In some other places it is less.
Neither does it follow the coastline too exactly. It frequently cuts inland to cross coastal rivers where they are narrow and avoids the steep climbs and descents of seashore headlands. Part of the ‘Highway’ is not even tarmac as car ferries carry light traffic across four separate estuaries.
The Konkan region has Mumbai to the North, Goa to the South, the Arabian Sea to the West and the highlands of the Decan plateau to the East. It is generally fairly lowly populated with fishing villages along the coast and small farms on the flatlands before the land rises steeply into the Western Ghats. There are several large Nature Reserves and Sanctuaries and turtles breed on the coast.
Inland, away from the coast is the Mumbai to Goa Highway. This is in the process of becoming a 6 lane dual carriageway which in many places will be raised around 100ft above ground on concrete piers. At the moment someone wanting to travel from the coast to Mumbai has to drive inland and then join this North - South main road.
Last year a new 21km long Mumbai Harbour bridge was opened. No doubt this will link to the Northern end of the Konkan. At at the South end of the Konkan there is a partially built bridge at the river crossing to Goa.
At the moment the coastal area is mainly unspoilt. It does have some giant power stations and a few large towns but between these hives of industry the world is quiet and dogs sleep on the roads.
The obstacles to making NH4 a through highway are the river crossings. South of Harihareshwar at Bagmandale a bridge was started years ago but work then stopped.
Locals told me that work was restarting on it and they have been informed that the new road to the bridge will destroy their house and business.
From a technical point of view I am surprised that work on part built reinforced concrete structures can be continued when they have been weathered by the sea. I would have thought that there would be long term damage to the steel-work. Bridges have been known to collapse and this area had a cyclone in 2021.
If the bridge is built and the highway to it constructed from the North it will be an isolated section of 6 lane concrete as further North there is a river crossing at Dighi and to the South another river crossing at Dabhol where small car ferries carry light traffic across. They could not cope with heavy lorries or a steep increase in traffic. Perhaps there are plans to bridge these rivers? Or will these sections of new 6 lane highway go……..nowhere?
Does this all matter? Change is always happening. What is noticeable is the scale and speed of change, and doubts as to why so much money is being spent. The Konkan is largely unexploited for minerals. In the South at Redi where there are large iron ore mines the dust colours the roads. Hill tops are being cut off as large lorries are able to transport the iron ore inland to the nearby Mumbai - Goa Highway. A new Coastal Highway will open up a massive area of land for new mining as the products will be transportable by the new road.
I see a new Coastal Highway as a dagger being pushed deep through unspoilt countryside and small villages. But worse than the dagger will be the poisons that the new wound lets into the Konkan.
As a cyclist I notice my surroundings more than if I was on a motorbike or in a car. The falling leaf showing where a monkey is. The bird song. The clean air. All of these reduce as Mumbai is approached and urbanisation increases, along with traffic density, dust and pollution. My fear is that in a short time these will extend much further into the Konkan. Having cycled here in 2024 and 2025 I can see this already happening and a new Coastal Highway will only accelerate this change.
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3 weeks ago