Mumbai-Pune Travel Set for Major Boost as NHAI Plans Second Expressway

Mumbai: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has started work on a second Mumbai-Pune Expressway project, which is expected to reduce travel time between Mumbai and Pune to around 90 minutes.

NHAI has invited bids for preparing the Detailed Project Report (DPR) and conducting a feasibility study for the proposed ₹15,000-crore greenfield expressway. The new access-controlled highway will run parallel to the existing Mumbai-Pune Expressway and is aimed at reducing heavy traffic congestion on one of Maharashtra’s busiest routes.

As per preliminary plans, the new expressway will be nearly 130 km long. It is expected to begin from Chowk in Raigad district, connect to the JNPT (Pagote)-Chowk corridor, and extend up to Shivare village near Bhor, where it will join the Pune Ring Road.

The project is expected to strengthen connectivity between Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Atal Setu and Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT), while also improving transport access to major industrial and logistics hubs in western Maharashtra.

Officials said rising traffic volume, frequent accidents and increasing pressure on the existing Mumbai-Pune Expressway have made the new corridor necessary. The proposed eight-lane highway is expected to handle nearly three lakh vehicles daily and improve cargo movement between Mumbai and Pune regions.

The move follows earlier announcements by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari regarding a parallel Mumbai-Pune expressway as part of Maharashtra’s large-scale infrastructure expansion.

Gadkari had earlier stated that the new route would connect the Atal Setu-JNPA region with Shivare Junction near Pune, cutting travel time between Mumbai and Pune to around one-and-a-half hours. He had also confirmed that the first phase from Pagote near JNPA to Chowk has already received approval.

Once completed, the corridor is expected to improve not only Mumbai-Pune connectivity but also long-distance travel towards Bengaluru through the proposed Mumbai-Bengaluru Highway network.

Apart from this project, the Centre is also planning the ₹16,318-crore Pune-Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar greenfield expressway, which aims to reduce travel time between the two cities to nearly two hours.

Meanwhile, Pune is also set to get major transport infrastructure upgrades, including the ₹4,207-crore Talegaon-Chakan-Shikrapur elevated corridor with flyovers, surface roads and a Metro line.