Recently, the Nagpur Metro-Rail Project in Maharashtra has set a new record for building Asia’s longest double-decker viaduct.The Maha Metro was able to plan and design this multilayer structure with a metro on top and elevated national highway in the middle, supported on common pillars. This special rib-and-spine design has caused minimum inconvenience to road users and been built in the shortest possible time. Integrating well with the metro structure,it has proved to be cost-effective, faster to construct and aesthetic too. The Nagpur Metro Rail Project was sanctioned in August2014 as well as the North-South Corridor of the same passes from Wardha Road (NH-361). Subsequently, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) sanctioned a flyover of 3.14km on the same road to augment its capacity. Thus, both utilities were to be constructed on this stretch of the highway road passing through the congested Nagpur city. “Had these utilities been constructed on separate alignments, they would have occupied double the space, which is so sparse and would also have caused additional hardship to the public using the roads,” explains Dr Brijesh Dixit, Managing Director, Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation. In view of this, he confirms that the Minister of Road, Transport and Highway (MoRTH) and Chief Minister of Maharashtra, who are also the public representatives of Nagpur,asked the Maha Metro to explore if both utilities could be constructed on the same alignment, supported on common pillars. In Phase 1, only two such projects are being executed by the Maha Metro. The under-construction elevated structure also includes a four-layer structure in Gaddigodam. In February this year, the Maha Metro scripted history with the successful launch of a 85-m-long and 1,600-tonne heavy girder in Gaddigodam over the railway track. This was the first time that such a gigantic task has been executed. The highest ever girder launching is part of the four-layer transportation system at Kamptee Road (Gurudwara) – part of the North-South Corridor of the Maha Metro. The Nagpur-Delhi Railway track over which the work was executed is one of the busiest railway lines with over 150 trains passing over it every day.To read the success story of this viaduct, CLICK HERE.