Goa to have four-lane national highway

The national highway passing through Goa will soon be widened into four lanes, according to a senior official from the Ministry of Road Transport.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Indian Roads Congress conference being held in Goa, N.K. Sinha, director general, road development and also the additional secretary in the Ministry of Road Transport, said the existing two-lane NH17 would be widened into a four-lane highway.

NH17 is a crucial road link for southern Indian states with India's commercial capital, Mumbai. Sinha stated that the widening process would be taken up in four phases so as to enable minimal slowing down of traffic through Goa.

The state government, he said, has already been allocated Rs76.2 million to upgrade several other roads in the state.

In a related development, the BJP-led government in Goa is in the process of appointing a firm from Denmark to conduct a feasibility study in constructing a parallel bridge across the River Zuari, some 15 km from here.

One of the main pillars on the Zuari bridge which connects North and South Goa has been sinking.