Samruddhi Mahamarg

Project Subject

Samruddhi Mahamarg (Mumbai–Nagpur Expressway)

Role

Design lead and creative architect

Scope

Bilingual coffee table book (English and Marathi)

Core Challenge

Balancing state-of-the-art infrastructure with Maharashtra's cultural heritage

Digital Eyedeas designs culturally grounded publications for government and infrastructure projects. This case study covers the bilingual coffee table book built to document the Mumbai–Nagpur Expressway, unveiled by the Prime Minister of India.

The Challenge

A 701 km, six-lane expressway was cutting travel time from 16 hours to 8, built with wildlife underpasses, smart traffic systems, and tunnels — genuinely advanced infrastructure. But a highway isn’t just asphalt; it’s a journey through a state’s history and identity. The task was to present the engineering without losing the cultural soul of the land it crosses, in a bilingual format that had to work equally well in both languages.

Strategic Approach

We built the book around a single connecting idea — modernity rooted in heritage — rather than treating the two as separate chapters.

Anchored the visual identity in saffron rather than standard corporate blue-grey, tying the Maratha flag and Sanatan Dharma’s spiritual symbolism into every spread
Used Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s imagery as a guiding motif, and authentic Warli tribal art as borders and texture to ground high-tech content in local tradition
Paired engineering diagrams — viaducts, animal crossings, terrain solutions — directly against the cultural narrative, rather than separating fact from feeling
Built a bilingual layout where English and Marathi run side by side without breaking the flow of either

Key Deliverables

Business Impact