Mumbai to Bengaluru in Just 6 Hours: ₹40,000 Cr, 14-Lane Greenfield Expressway Announced
Mumbai to Bengaluru in Just 6 Hours: ₹40,000 Cr, 14-Lane Greenfield Expressway Announced
Gadkari’s mega infrastructure push under Bharatmala Pariyojana aims to transform travel between two key IT hubs.
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, has unveiled an ambitious ₹40,000 crore expressway project aimed at slashing travel time between Mumbai and Bengaluru to just 6 hours. Currently taking around 18 hours by road, this journey will be revolutionized by a new 14-lane, 700 km-long greenfield expressway as part of the Bharatmala Pariyojana and Green Express Highway initiative.
The high-speed corridor will allow vehicles to travel at up to 120 km/h and feature:
- 2 emergency airstrips
- 55 flyovers
- 22 interchanges
- Access-controlled 8-lane (expandable) infrastructure
The route will begin at Kanjale on the Pune Ring Road, cutting across 12 districts in Maharashtra and Karnataka, including Pune, Satara, Sangli, Belagavi, Bagalkot, Gadag, Koppal, Vijayanagar, Davanagere, Chitradurga, Tumakuru, and Bengaluru Rural.
This expressway is designed to:
- Cut the Pune-Bengaluru distance by 95 km
- Reduce Pune to Bengaluru travel time to 4–5 hours
- Ease traffic, reduce logistics time, and boost regional economic activity
- Enhance trade and IT-sector connectivity between Maharashtra and Karnataka
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will oversee the construction. However, concerns remain regarding project delays and quality control—issues that have affected previous infrastructure projects. Gadkari has reiterated that any contractor failing quality checks will face penalties, citing a ₹50 lakh fine issued recently for subpar work on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway.
This project promises to be a game-changer for South India’s connectivity but its success depends on timely, high-quality execution.
