The Mumbai Pune Expressway, is India's first six-lane concrete, high-speed,
access controlled tolled expressway. It spans a distance of 94.5 km connecting
Mumbai, the administrative capital of Maharashtra and the financial capital of
India, with Pune, an industrial and educational hub. The expressway, which
was fully operationalized in 2002, introduced new levels of speed and
safety in automobile transportation to Indian roads. It is one of India's
busiest roads. The expressway has reduced the travel
time between the cities of Mumbai and Pune to approximately two hours. For
most practical purposes, it has replaced the older Mumbai-Pune stretch of the
Mumbai-Chennai National Highway, which had become extremely congested and
accident-prone over time. The expressway starts at Kalamboli, and ends at Dehu
Rd.. It cleaves through the scenic Sahyadri mountain ranges through passes
and tunnels. It has six interchanges: Shedung, Chowk, Khalapur, Lonavala,
Kusgaon and Talegaon. The expressway has two carriageways with
three concrete lanes, each separated by a central divider and a tarmac or
concrete shoulder on either side. Vehicles with fewer than four wheels and
agricultural tractors are not permitted, although tractor-trailers are permitted.
The expressway handles about 43,000 PCUs daily, and is designed to handle up to
1,000,000 PCUs. History
In 1990, the Government of Maharashtra appointed RITES and Scott Wilson
Kirkpatrick to carry out feasibility studies for the new expressway to be
operated on toll basis. RITES submitted their report in 1994 with the estimated
cost of project at ₹11.46 billion. The Government of Maharashtra entrusted
the work of the construction of Mumbai-Pune expressway to MSRDC in March
1997 on Build-Operate-Transfer basis with permission to collect toll for 30
years. The environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests,
Government of India was received on 13 October 1997. The Forest Clearance was
received on 11 November 1997. The tender notice was published in
leading newspapers all over India and also on the Internet. Due to the wide
publicity, 133 tenders were sold and on 18 December 1997, 55 tenders were
received. After technical and financial evaluation, tenders were accepted and
work orders were given on 1 January 1998 to four contractors. Thereafter tenders
for widening of Khandala and Lonavala-Khandala bypass works were
invited. The tenders were received on 24 August 1998 and orders were issued on 4
September 1998. Construction
This six laner project was completed under the stewardship of the Maharashtra
State Road Development Corporation. The expressway cost ₹16.3 billion to
construct. The first sections opened in 2000, and
the entire route was completed, opened to traffic and made fully operational
from April 2002. Tunnels
It has five illuminated, ventilated tunnels totalling 5,724 metres. These
tunnels were built by the Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd.
These are: The entire length of expressway has a
single layer of barbed wire fencing to keep out stray cattle.
Distances Toll Plazas
Toll is collected at Khalapur and at Talegaon. The toll ranges from ₹195 for
private cars, to ₹1750 for multi-axle trailer trucks.
Safety The Expressway has witnessed a large
number of accidents, attributed to human errors and the large volume of traffic.
In 10 years there were 1758 accidents, with more than 400 fatalities. Sporadic
instances of robbery have also been reported in the highway.
On 28 May 2012, 27 people were reported to have died, and another 26, injured in
a road accident when a speeding tempo hit a stationary bus carrying passengers
near Khalapur. On 10 June 2010 people were injured and
30 vehicles were damaged in a pileup near Kamshet which occurred when a MSRTC
bus skidded inside a tunnel. The heavy rains in June and July 2015
caused heavy landslides at Khandala and Adoshi tunnels, which prompted the PWD
to remove loose rocks to prevent further landslides. To carry out such works, the
expressway near to the Lonavala exit till Khopoli exit was closed from 10 am
to 5 pm for 10 days after the landslide near Adoshi tunnel on 18th July 2015
which took 3 lives and halted the traffic for long. The boulders fell on
both carriageways which caused huge diversion of traffic towards the old
highway. Future Expansion
MSRDC has decided to extend the Mumbai Pune Expressway from the current
endpoint of Kalamboli near Panvel and to extend it till Sion in Mumbai. The
extended stretch will reduce commuting time between Mumbai and Pune by 30
minutes. Under the plan, the Sion Panvel Expressway corridor will be widened,
with dedicated lanes for heavy and light vehicles. Service roads will be built
for entry and exit at various points. It will also involve constructing a brand
new bridge over the Thane creek parallel to the current Vashi Mankhurd Bridge.
MSRDC will undertake the expansion project. Work is expected to commence in
March 2009 and complete by September 2011. The new 22-km link is expected to
cost ₹8 billion. MSRDC is planning to widen the
expressway from current 6 lane to 8 lane. The proposal has been presented in
Maharashtra Cabinet for approval. Naming
The expressway was conceived and the work started when the BJP and Shiv Sena
governed Maharashtra. Eventually, in 2009, the ruling coalition named the
expressway after the first Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Yashavantrao
Chavan who was instrumental in the development of Maharashtra and an early
member of the Congress party. Connecting Cities
Apart from providing faster connectivity from Mumbai to Pune, the expressway has
also connected cities like Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Belgaum, Hubli and
Bangalore with Mumbai and reduced the travel time between these cities. A 34km
long road has been constructed which bypasses the Pune Metropolitan Area
which has also eased the traffic. With the construction of the Pune City ring
road, the many faraway suburbs and financial districts of Pune would get a
direct link to the expressway and would not have to cross the entire urban Pune
area. Gallery
See also Expressways in India
Roads in Pune References
External links MSRDC – Mumbai Pune Expressway Project