20 minutes and 6 km saved, fewer jams: How a ‘missing link’ changes Mumbai–Pune drives
A new bypass cuts travel time, allows motorists to avoid a risky stretch, and could make one of India’s most congested highways faster and safer
For those who frequently use the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, there’s a familiar experience somewhere between Khopoli and Lonavala, where they suddenly see the brake lights of vehicles in front of them turn on. From there, the six-lane expressway turns into a crawling queue of vehicles, often adding hours to a journey.
For years, a 19-km stretch has been the 94-km-long expressway’s biggest chokepoint, which only gets worse due to higher weekend traffic, landslides, and accidents. In February, the overturning of a truck carrying inflammable gas resulted in a 32-hour standstill on the highway used by lakhs daily.