The construction of the road marks a significant achievement, as India is the first country in the world to commercially produce bio-bitumen from agricultural waste.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has achieved a remarkable feat, setting two Guinness World Records during the construction of the Bengaluru-Kadapa-Vijayawada Economic Corridor (NH-544G) in Andhra Pradesh, especially on the Vanavolu-Vankarakunda section of Andhra Pradesh. NHAI entered the Guinness World Records by achieving unprecedented speed and volume in road construction within 24 hours.
Reflecting India’s vision of continuous focus on equipping the country with world-class highway infrastructure, 28.95 lane kilometres and 10,675 Mt of bituminous concrete were laid continuously within 24 hours. The upcoming six-lane greenfield national highway has been designed to curtail the travel time between Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh, and Bengaluru, Karnataka, significantly.
Historic milestone in India’s road infrastructure
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share NHAI’s achievement. Gadkari posted, “Today marks a historic milestone in India’s road infrastructure, as our nation becomes the first in the world to commercially produce bio-bitumen.”
“My heartfelt congratulations to CSIR and its dedicated scientists, and my sincere thanks to Union MoS Shri @DrJitendraSingh Ji for his constant support in making this breakthrough possible. Their pioneering work, “From Farm Residue to Road: Bio-Bitumen via Pyrolysis,” is a shining example of how agricultural waste can be transformed into a valuable national resource”, the Union Minister added.
The records set by the NHAI include the following: the NHAI has laid a distance of 28.95 lane km of bituminous concrete continuously within 24 hours. It brought into use a volume of 10,675 metric tons (MT) of concrete continuously within 24 hours.
Significant achievement
The construction of the road marks a significant achievement, as India is the first country in the world to commercially produce bio-bitumen from agricultural waste.
The greenfield portion of the section runs an approximate distance of 342 km from Kodikonda to Addanki/Muppavaram. Moreover, the brownfield upgrades comprise sections such as Bengaluru–Kodikonda running for a total of 73 km on NH-44, as well as Addanki–Vijayawada stretching for 113 km on NH-16.
The project is located near Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh’s Sri Sathya Sai district. A combined effort of 600 engineers and workers made the feat achievable, who worked round the clock while adhering to strict NHAI quality standards.
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