Currently, the 19-kilometre stretch between Khopoli and the Sinhgad Institute involves navigating winding ghat roads prone to heavy traffic congestion. With the new 13-kilometre connector motorists will be able to avoid the accident-prone ghat section.
The Mumbai-Pune Expressway is one of India’s busiest highways, which handles 75,000 vehicles daily, with weekend traffic swelling to 1.2 lakh vehicles. Traffic on the expressway is expected to increase once the Navi Mumbai International Airport opens. In 2024, the expressway recorded 191 accidents, which was one of the primary reasons the need to decongest traffic arose.
Also read | Mumbai–Pune Expressway to be widened to 10 lanes to ease traffic congestion
The ghat section currently funnels six lanes of the expressway and four lanes of the old Mumbai-Bengaluru highway (NH-4) into a bottleneck of just six lanes. The reduction in road width, makes this a choke point. Once the connector is operational, vehicles will bypass this entire stretch, offering safer travel between Mumbai and Pune.
The new connector begins at Khopoli and terminates at the Sinhgad Institute near Pune, cutting travel time and enhancing connectivity. Once complete, the link will transform road commute between Mumbai and Pune.
Meanwhile, the expressway would further be given an upgrade. The six-lane highway will soon be widened to ten lanes to reduce traffic congestion and make travel safer and quicker for the lakhs of commuters who use it daily.
The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) announced in June that it was spearheading the ambitious project, with an estimated cost of around ₹14,000 crore. A proposal has been prepared and will be sent to the state cabinet for final approval. Once approved, construction will begin in phases.
(Edited by : Jerome Anthony)
First Published: Jul 12, 2025 2:53 PM IST
