State-owned NHAI has created a Guinness World Record for the longest continuously laid bituminous lane of 75 kilometres in 105 hours and 33 minutes on the national highway between Amravati and Akola districts in Maharashtra.

Mentioning about the record, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said the project was implemented by 720 workers including a team of independent consultants who worked day and night.

The total length of the 75 kilometres of single lane continuous bituminous concrete road is equivalent to 37.5 kilometres of two-lane paved shoulder road and the work started on June 3, at 7:27 am and was completed on June 7, at 5 pm, the minister said in a video message.

The previous Guinness World Record for the longest continuously laid bituminous was for building 25.275 kilometres of road that was achieved in Doha, Qatar in February 2019 and that task was completed in 10 days, Gadkari said.

The Amravati to Akola section is part of NH 53 and this is an important east-east corridor which connects major cities like Kolkata, Raipur, Nagpur and Surat.

According to Gadkari, once completed, this stretch will play a major role in easing movement of traffic and freight on this route.

He also congratulated all the engineers, contractors, consultants, workers from NHAI and Raj Path Infracon Pvt Ltd for efficient implementation of the project that has helped in successful completion of this world record.

Highway between Amravati and Akola districts in Maharashtra. PTI Picture