Maharashtra: Expressway tunnel to be ready in early 2025

Motorists face traffic jams along the ghat section of the Expressway. File pic

If everything goes to plan, by early next year, motorists driving from Mumbai to Pune via the expressway will face no traffic jams along the ghat section as work on the Mumbai-Pune missing link project is expected to be completed in a year. The road tunneling work has been completed and work on the 170-metre-high cable-stayed bridge is in progress. The tunnels are 23-metre-wide each, making them the widest in the world, while the cable-stayed bridge is the highest in the country.

A senior Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) official said, "The Mumbai-Pune missing link project is moving forward quickly, with tunnelling complete and concreting underway. The most difficult part - construction of the cable-stayed bridge that will connect the Mumbai-Pune expressway to the tunnels - is currently underway, and we anticipate that the entire project will be complete in another year."

The length of the existing Mumbai-Pune Expressway section from the Khopoli exit to Sinhgad Institute is 19 km. This distance will be reduced to 13.3 km after construction of the missing link. Subsequently, the total length of the expressway from Mumbai to Pune will be reduced by 6 km and the travel time will be cut short by 20-25 minutes.

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At every 300 metres, the tunnels (going towards Pune and coming towards Mumbai) will be interconnected so that in case of any emergency, the traffic in either of the tunnels will not be affected. As a part of the work, the expressway is being widened after the Khalapur Toll Plaza towards Pune, after which the motorists will travel via the bridge and tunnel which will pass 150 metres below the Lonavla Lake.

The link will meet the expressway after the Sinhgad Institute of Technology, Lonavla. The project will eliminate traffic jams along the ghat section and save at least 30-60 minutes of travel time. The Mumbai-Pune Expressway currently has 6-lane cement concrete roads with a 2.5-metre-wide paved shoulder on both sides, having a length of 94 km each. National Highway No. 4 - from Shil Phata to Dehu Road - is a 4-lane bituminous road with a length of 111 km.

The Mumbai-Pune Expressway and NH-4 meet near Khalapur Toll Plaza and separate near the Khandala exit. The section from Adoshi Tunnel to the Khandala exit is a 6-lane road but traffic equivalent of 10-lane roads (six lanes of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and four lanes of NH-4) is plying along this section. The heavy traffic and landslides cause congestion on this stretch. Motorists tend to drive faster along the rest of the expressway to compensate for time lost due to a decrease in speed and increase in travel time along the ghat section, which results in more accidents.

170 metres
Height of cable-stayed bridge