New Delhi, Jun 8 (IANS): The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) created a history by laying 75 km of bituminous concrete road in a single lane in 105 hours and 33 minutes, said Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday.

The Minister for Road Transport and the Highways announced that a New Guinness World Record was created by the NHAI in laying 75 km of bituminous concrete road in a single lane on NH 53 in 105 hours and 33 minutes between Amravati and Akola.

"The total length of the 75 km of single lane continuous bituminous concrete road is equivalent to 37.5 km of two-lane paved shoulder road and the work started on June 3 at 7.27 a.m. and was completed on June 7 at 5 p.m.," he added.

The Minister said the bituminous mix of 36,634 MT consisting of 2,070 MT of bitumen was used. He said the project was implemented by 720 workers including a team of independent consultants who worked day and night to complete this task.

Gadkari said, before this, the Guinness World Record for the longest continuously laid bituminous road was for building 25.275 km that was achieved in Doha, Qatar in Feb 2019. The task took 10 days to complete.

The Minister said the Amravati to Akola section is part of NH 53, an important east-east corridor which connects major cities like Kolkata, Raipur, Nagpur and Surat. He said once completed, this stretch will play a major role in easing movement of traffic and freight on this route.