| Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway | |
|---|---|
| Mumbai–Pune Expressway | |
 Mumbai-Pune Expressway in red | |
 | |
| Route information | |
| Maintained byMaharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) | |
| Length | 94.5 km (58.7 mi) |
| Existed | April 2002; 22 years ago (April 2002)–present |
| Major junctions | |
| West end | Kalamboli,Navi Mumbai,Raigad District |
| Major intersections | |
| East end | Ravet,Pune |
| Location | |
| Country | India |
| States | Maharashtra |
| Major cities | Kalamboli,Panvel,KhalapurKhandala,Lonavala,Talegaon Dabhade |
| Highway system | |
TheMumbai–Pune Expressway (officiallyYashwantrao Chavan Expressway) is India's first 6-lane wide concrete, access-controlledtolled expressway.[1] It spans a distance of 94.5km connectingRaigad-Navi Mumbai-Mumbai, the capital ofMaharashtra state and the financial capital ofIndia, withPune, the cultural and educational capital of Maharashtra.[2][3] The expressway, which was fully operationalized in 2002, introduced new levels of speed and safety in automobile transportation to Indian roads.[4] It is one of India's busiest roads.[5]
The expressway starts atKalamboli inRaigad District'sNavi Mumbai and ends at Kiwale in Pune. It cleaves through the scenicSahyadri mountain ranges throughpasses andtunnels.[6] It has fiveinterchanges: Kon (Shedung), Chowk, Khalapur, Kusgaon and Talegaon.[7] The expressway has twocarriageways, each with three concrete lanes, separated by a central divider and atarmac orconcrete shoulder on either side.Pedestrians,two-wheelers,three-wheelers,bullock carts andtractors are not permitted, althoughtractor-trailers (semi-trailer rigs) are permitted. Vehicles are also prohibited from halting on the expressway.[8] The expressway handles about 43,000PCUs daily,[5] and is designed to handle up to 1,00,000 PCUs.[6]
The expressway has reduced the travel time fromKalamboli inRaigad, nearMumbai to Kiwale in Pune to about two hours. It has largely supplemented the Mumbai-Pune section ofNH 48 which had become extremely congested and accident-prone.[citation needed]
The expressway is not part ofNHAI highway network NH 48 and has been built, operated and maintained wholly by theGovernment of Maharashtra viaMaharashtra State Road Development Corporation.NH 48 is another separate oldernational highway. TheNH 48 merges with this expressway for a short distance nearKhandala. Due to the winding route taken as the road climbs up the hills, traffic congestion occurs on that part of expressway whereNH 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.[9]
The government of Maharashtra appointedRITES in 1990 to carry out feasibility studies for the new expressway to be operated on toll basis. RITES submitted its report in 1994 with the estimated cost of project at₹11.46 billion (US$130 million).
The government of Maharashtra entrusted the work of the construction of the expressway toMSRDC in March 1997 onBuild-Operate-Transfer basis with permission to collect toll for 30 years.[citation needed] TheMinistry of Environment and Forests,Government of India gave environmental clearance on 13 October 1997 and forest clearance on 11 November 1997.
The tender notice was published in leading newspapers all over India and also on the Internet. Due to the wide publicity, 133 tenders were sold and 55 tenders were received on 18 December 1997. After technical and financial evaluation, work orders were given on 1 January 1998 to four contractors. Thereafter tenders for widening ofKhandala andLonavala-Khandalabypass works were invited. The tenders were received on 24 August 1998 and orders were issued on 4 September 1998.[10]
This six-lane project was completed under the stewardship of theMaharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC). The expressway cost₹16.3 billion (US$190 million) to construct.[10] The first sections opened in 2000, and the entire route was completed, opened to traffic and made fully operational from April 2002.[6][7] The entire length of expressway has a single layer of barbed wire fencing to keep out stray animals.
The expressway was conceived in the year 1992 Maharashtra.[11] Eventually, in 2009, the then ruling coalition (INC,NCP) named the expressway after the first Chief Minister of Maharashtra,Yashavantrao Chavan, who was a member of the Congress.[12]
The expressway was opened to public in April 2001. The expressway initially opened without a posted speed limit. However, in 2009, a speed limit of 80 km/h (50 mph) was enacted as private vehicles got more powerful and could hit higher speeds more easily. In July 2019, a panel of experts agreed to further increase the speed limit to 120 km/h (75 mph).[13] This increase was short lived, and four months later in November 2019, the Highway Police slashed down the speed limit to 100 km/h (62 mph) for cars and 80 km/h (50 mph) for trucks on flat terrain, and half of that as a speed limit for hilly terrain.
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At the opening, the expressway featured six illuminated, ventilated tunnels totaling 5,724 metres. These tunnels were built by the Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd. However, with the construction of Missing Link, more tunnels are being added.
| Tunnel | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bhatan | This tunnel opened in April 2000. The Mumbai-Pune (North) tube is 1,046 m and the Pune-Mumbai (South) tube is 1,086 m long. |
| 2 | Madap | This tunnel also opened in April 2000. The Mumbai-Pune (North) tube is 295 m and the Pune-Mumbai (South) tube is 351 m long. |
| 3 | Adoshi | This tunnel contains only a half part of the expressway which goes from Pune to Mumbai. The Mumbai-Pune carriageway skirts the eastern edge of the tunnel while the Pune-Mumbai carriageway traverses the 230-metre-long (750 ft) tunnel. |
| 4 | Khandala | This is a curved pair of tubes. The Mumbai-Pune (North) tube is 320 m and the Pune-Mumbai (South) tube is 360 m long. |
| 5 | Kamshet-1 | The Mumbai-Pune (North) tube is 935 m and the Pune-Mumbai (South) tube is 972 m long. |
| 6 | Kamshet-2 | The Mumbai-Pune (North) tube is 191 m and the Pune-Mumbai (South) tube is 168 m long. |
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| Description | Distance | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Start of Expressway (Mumbai end) (19°01′11.47″N73°06′13.21″E / 19.0198528°N 73.1036694°E /19.0198528; 73.1036694) to Kon-Shedung interchange | 8.5 km (5.3 mi) |
| 2 | Kon-Shedung interchange to Bhatan tunnel | 6.3 km (3.9 mi) |
| 3 | Bhatan tunnel to Madap tunnel | 10.6 km (6.6 mi) |
| 4 | Madap tunnel to Khalapur toll station | 7.3 km (4.5 mi) |
| 5 | Khalapur toll station to Khalapur-Sajgaon gas station & rest area | 1.6 km (0.99 mi) |
| 6 | Khalapur-Sajgaon rest area to Adoshi tunnel. The Mumbai-Pune carriageway skirts the eastern edge of the tunnel while the Pune-Mumbai carriageway traverses the 230-metre-long (750 ft) tunnel. | 6.9 km (4.3 mi) |
| 7 | Adoshi tunnel to the Deccan-Konkan stone trestle. | 4.5 km (2.8 mi) |
| 8 | Stone trestle to Khandala tunnel | 0.8 km (0.50 mi) |
| 9 | Khandala tunnel to Khandala | 2.7 km (1.7 mi) |
| 10 | Khandala to Tungarli | 3.5 km (2.2 mi) |
| 11 | Tungarli to Kamshet-1 tunnel | 17.1 km (10.6 mi) |
| 12 | Kamshet-1 tunnel to Kamshet-2 tunnel | 1.2 km (0.75 mi) |
| 13 | Kamshet-2 tunnel to Talegaon toll station | 11.1 km (6.9 mi) |
| 14 | Talegaon toll station to Somatane interchange | 3.4 km (2.1 mi) |
| 15 | Somatane interchange to End of Expressway (Pune end) (18°39′45.85″N73°43′35.61″E / 18.6627361°N 73.7265583°E /18.6627361; 73.7265583) | 7.6 km (4.7 mi) |
| Total length of Expressway: Start to End | 93.1 km (57.8 mi) |
Toll is collected atKhalapur (Pali Phata) (for the Mumbai-Pune direction) and atTalegaon (Toll Rates 2023) (for the Pune-Mumbai direction). The toll ranges from₹540 (US$6.20) for private cars, to₹2,200 (US$25) for multi-axle trailer trucks.[14] The toll collection data is kept as secret as per theRTI inquiry raised by activist Vivek Velankar. The expressway contract with the Ideal Road Builders (IRB) has been uploaded but the toll collection details are not there.[15][16] There is no plan to give toll waiver for this expressway.[17]
The expressway has witnessed a large number of road accidents, attributed to human errors and the large volume of traffic. In the first 10 years since its opening, there were 1,758 accidents with more than 400 fatalities.[citation needed][18][19]
The heavy rains in June and July 2015 caused heavy landslides at Khandala and Adoshi tunnels, which prompted the PWD to remove loose rocks to prevent further landslides.[23] To carry out such works, the expressway near to the Lonavala exit till Khopoli exit was closed from 10 am to 5 pm for 10 days after the landslide near Adoshi tunnel on 18 July 2015 which took three lives and halted the traffic for two months. The boulders fell on both carriageways which caused huge diversion of traffic towards the old highway.[24]
Sporadic instances of robbery have been reported on the highway.[25]
SaveLIFE Foundation, with support from Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. and theMSRDC, initiated the 'Zero Fatality Corridor' project to make the expressway fatality-free by 2020.[26] Since August 2016, over a thousand engineering errors on the expressway have been fixed. As a part of this project, the 'Safety Under 80' campaign was also jointly launched by SLF, MSRDC and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. The initiative aimed at creating mass awareness on the dangers of speeding and the consequences of speeding were exhibited through outdoor hoardings and installation of crashes cars on both the corridors of the expressway.[27]
On 6 April 2020, during thelockdown during COVID-19, a section of the 190 year old Amrutanjan Bridge, a popular out of use railway bridge on theBhor Ghat, was demolished by theMSRDC with the help ofMaharashtra Police Highway Traffic department. The bridge was a major bottleneck on the ghat section, which caused traffic snarls and posed a safety issue for wide vehicles and trucks carrying wide goods.[28] Post demolition, the safety and flow of traffic through the ghat section has improved.[29]
On 13 June 2023, an oil tanker overturned on the Mumbai-Pune expressway and rammed against a divider on a bridge near Lonavala which went up in flames on impact, killing the driver and other three people and three were injured.[30]
In October 2023, Enhancing safety on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has announced the installation of Highway Traffic Management System (HTMS) Gantries on the Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway.[31]
MSRDC is planning to widen the expressway from current 6 lane to 8 lane.[5] The proposal has been presented in Maharashtra Cabinet for approval. After this road will connect to central Pune. This will help to all kind of transport like Mumbai to Pune cabs, Buses, and other travellers.
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