Good News for Commuter: Mumbai–Pune Expressway To Get Four New Lanes; Aims to Ease Chronic Congestion
Good News for Commuter: Mumbai–Pune Expressway To Get Four New Lanes; Aims to Ease Chronic Congestion
The Rs.14,260-crore expansion aims to ease chronic congestion on one of India’s busiest inter-city corridors.
The Maharashtra government has approved a major upgrade of the Mumbai–Pune Expressway, with plans to add four additional lanes to the existing six-lane stretch. The expansion aims to reduce traffic congestion that has become increasingly severe on the busy 95-km corridor, which carries between 80,000 and 100,000 vehicles every day.
Officials said the four new lanes will take the expressway to a 10-lane configuration once the project is completed by 2030, subject to government approval and tender procedures. The estimated cost of the expansion is ₹14,260 crore, with the state expected to contribute about 40 percent. The remaining cost will be funded by the concessionaire selected through the bidding process. As part of the financing model, the toll collection period on the expressway is likely to be extended beyond April 30, 2045.
Despite being India’s first access-controlled highway, operational since April 2002, the expressway continues to experience severe bottlenecks — especially on weekends and holidays. In 2020, the historic 190-year-old Amrutanjan Bridge was demolished to ease jams, but congestion persists. The worst choke point remains the stretch from Adoshi tunnel to Khandala exit, where the six-lane expressway merges with the four-lane Old Mumbai–Pune Highway (NH-4). On Friday evening, motorists reported taking nearly eight hours to travel between the two cities.
The expansion plan is not new. Earlier proposals aimed to increase capacity from six to eight lanes, but the government has now revised the target to 10 lanes considering surging traffic volumes across both districts. The Mumbai–Pune route is one of the busiest economic and commuter corridors in the country, used daily for work, tourism and freight movement.
Meanwhile, the 13.3-km Missing Link project — designed to bypass the heavily congested Khandala and Lonavla ghat sections — is in its final phases. The bypass is expected to open to traffic in early 2026, potentially offering major relief even before the four-lane expansion is finished.
With both projects moving forward, officials believe that the Mumbai–Pune corridor will soon become significantly smoother, safer and more reliable for daily commuters and long-distance travellers alike.
