Mumbai Pune Expressway

Expressway in India

The Mumbai–Pune Expressway (officially Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway) is India's first 6-lane wide concrete, access-controlled tolled expressway. It spans a distance of 94.5 km connecting Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra state and the financial capital of India, with Pune, the cultural and educational capital of Maharashtra. 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 starts at Kalamboli in Navi Mumbai and ends at Kiwale in Pune. It cleaves through the scenic Sahyadri mountain ranges through passes and tunnels. It has five interchanges: Kon (Shedung), Chowk, Khalapur, Kusgaon and Talegaon. The expressway has two carriageways, each with three concrete lanes, separated by a central divider and a tarmac or concrete shoulder on either side. Pedestrians, two-wheelers, three-wheelers, bullock carts and tractors are not permitted, although tractor-trailers (semi-trailer rigs) are permitted. Vehicles are also prohibited from halting on the expressway. The expressway handles about 43,000 PCUs daily, and is designed to handle up to 1,00,000 PCUs. The expressway has reduced the travel time from Kalamboli in Mumbai to Kiwale in Pune to about two hours. It has largely supplemented the Mumbai-Pune section of NH 48 which had become extremely congested and accident-prone.[citation needed] The expressway is not part of NHAI highway network NH 48 and has been built, operated and maintained wholly by the Government of Maharashtra via Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation. NH 48 is another separate older national highway. The NH 48 merges with this expressway for a short distance near Khandala. Due to the winding route taken as the road climbs up the hills, traffic congestion occurs on that part of expressway where NH 48 merges. To alleviate this, a 'missing link' (bypass) project is under construction. This will allow traffic to bypass the hill (ghat) section, reducing the distance by about 6 km and travel time by an estimated 25 minutes.