The journey of drivers traveling to and from Mumbai-Pune by road is going to become more comfortable from the year 2026. It has been decided to create two additional lanes to keep the Mumbai-Pune Expressway traffic free. Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has decided to convert the six-lane highway into eight lanes. MSRDC has sent a proposal for the expansion of the country’s first concrete highway to the government.
According to a senior MSRDC official, the expansion work will start within a year of getting the approval from the government. The work of preparing two more lanes on the highway will be completed in the next three years. Let us tell you that this 94.5 km long highway was constructed in the year 2002. Due to this, the Pune-Mumbai journey can be completed in just three to four hours. There is daily movement of 1.55 lakh vehicles from here.
To reduce the distance of the expressway, an alternative route is also being prepared near Khopoli exit. With the completion of the Missing Link Project, the distance between the two big cities of the state will be decrease to 6 km. Drivers traveling via the expressway will save about 20 to 25 minutes of time. At present the distance between Khopoli exit of the highway and Sinhagarh Institute is 19 km. After the completion of this route, Distance will be reduced to 13.3 km. MSRDC will prepare two tunnels, 2 via decks and 8 lanes on this route.
Shivadi-Nhavaseva Trans Harbor Link Project (MTHL) is being prepared to reduce the distance from Mumbai to Navi Mumbai. This 22 km long bridge will be built from South Mumbai to Chirle in Raigarh district. Along with MTHL, the government has also prepared a plan to provide signal free route to vehicles from Mumbai to Pune. A long elevated corridor will also be built. This corridor will connect MTHL and Mumbai Pune Expressway. It will be between Chirle Interchange of Elevated Road (MTHL) and Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Upon completion of the elevated corridor, there will be easy access to Mumbai-Pune Expressway via Shivdi. Vehicles will be able to reach faster and in less time. Due to arrival of more vehicles in less time, the traffic problem on the highway will increase manifold. Keeping this in mind, a decision has been taken to increase the number of lanes on the existing highway.
