The
Mumbai Pune Expressway , officially the
Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway (Marathi: यशवंतराव चव्हाण द्रुतगती महामार्ग) is India's first six-lane concrete, high-speed, access controlled tolled expressway.
It spans a distance of 93 km (58 miles) connecting
MumbaiMumbai, formerly Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The city proper is the most-populous in the world, with approximately 14 million inhabitants. Along with the neighbouring suburbs of Navi Mumbai and Thane, it forms the world's 4th largest urban agglomeration, with around...
, the financial capital of
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
, and the neighboring industrial hub city of Pune.
It has introduced for India new levels of speed and safety in automobile transportation.
The expressway has reduced the travel time between the cities of Mumbai and Pune to approximately two hours.
The
Mumbai Pune Expressway , officially the
Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway (Marathi: यशवंतराव चव्हाण द्रुतगती महामार्ग) is India's first six-lane concrete, high-speed, access controlled tolled expressway.
It spans a distance of 93 km (58 miles) connecting
MumbaiMumbai, formerly Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The city proper is the most-populous in the world, with approximately 14 million inhabitants. Along with the neighbouring suburbs of Navi Mumbai and Thane, it forms the world's 4th largest urban agglomeration, with around...
, the financial capital of
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
, and the neighboring industrial hub city of Pune.
It has introduced for India new levels of speed and safety in automobile transportation.
The expressway has reduced the travel time between the cities of Mumbai and Pune to approximately two hours. For most practical purposes, it has replaced the older Mumbai-Pune strectch of the Mumbai-Chennai National Highway (NH 4), which had become extremely congested and accident-prone over time.
The expressway starts at Kalamboli (near Panvel) and ends at Dehu Rd. (near Pune).
It cleaves through the scenic Sahyadri mountain ranges via passes (Marathi:घाट) and tunnels.
It has five interchanges Kon (Shedung), Chowk, Khalapur, Kusgaon and Talegaon.
The expressway has two carriageways with three concrete lanes each separated by a central divider and a tarmac or concrete shoulder on either side.
Vehicles with fewer than four wheels and
agricultural tractorsA tractor is a vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used in agriculture or construction...
are not permitted, although
tractor-trailers (semi-trailer rigsA semi-trailer truck, also known as tractor-trailer or articulated truck or articulated lorry, often abbreviated to artic, is an articulated vehicle consisting of a towing engine ,...
are permitted).
The expressway handles about 30,000
PCUsPassenger Car Equivalent , is a metric used in Transportation Engineering, to assess traffic-flow rate on a highway.Highway capacity is measured in PCE/hour daily...
and is designed to handle up to 10,00,000 PCUs.
History
In 1990, the
Government of MaharashtraMaharashtra, a state in India has had a separate state government since it came into existence as a separate state on May 1, 1960. Like other states of India, the government is led by the Chief Minister...
appointed RITES and
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of
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to carry out feasibility studies for the new expressway to be operated on toll basis. RITES submitted their report in 1994 with the estimated cost of project at Rs. 1146
croreA crore is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to ten million , or 100 lakh. It is widely used in Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Pakistan. It was 500,000 in the now-obsolete Persian number system.Large money amounts in India are often written in the form "Rs 23 cr", that is,...
s (11.46 billion rupees). The Government of Maharashtra entrusted the work of the construction of Mumbai-Pune expressway to MSRDC in March 1997 on
Build-Operate-TransferBuild-Operate-Transfer is a form of project financing, wherein a private entity receives a concession from the private or public sector to finance, design, construct, and operate a facility stated in the concession contract...
basis with permission to collect toll for 30 years. The environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests,
Government of IndiaThe Government of India, also known as the Union Government or the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of a union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
was received on October 13, 1997. The Forest Clearance was received on November 11, 1997.
The tender notice was published in leading newspapers all over India and also on the Internet. Due to wide publicity, 133 tenders were sold and on December 18, 1997, 55 tenders were received. After technical and financial evaluation, tenders were accepted and work orders were given on January 1, 1998 to four contractors. Thereafter tenders for widening of Khandala ghat and Lonavala-Khandala bypass works were invited. The tenders were received on August 24, 1998 and orders were issued on September 4, 1998.
Construction
The project was completed under the stewardship of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC).
The expressway cost
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16,30,00,00,000 (approx. US$ 362 million) to construct.
The first sections opened in 2000, and the entire route was completed, opened to traffic and made fully operational from April 2002.
Tunnels
It has five illuminated, ventilated tunnels totalling 5,724 metres. These tunnels were built by the Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd.
These are:
Tunnels
|
Tunnel |
Description |
| 1 |
Bhatan |
This tunnel opened in April 2000.
The Mumbai-Pune (North) tube is 1,053 m and the Pune-Mumbai (South) tube is 1,088 m long. |
| 2 |
Madap |
This tunnel also opened in April 2000.
The Mumbai-Pune (North) tube is 305.3 m and the Pune-Mumbai (South) tube is 359.3 m long. |
| 3 |
Adoshi |
This only has a Pune-Mumbai tube.
The Mumbai-Pune carriageway skirts the eastern edge of the tunnel
while the Pune-Mumbai carriageway traverses the 258 m long tunnel. |
| 4 |
Khandala |
This is a curved pair of tubes. The Mumbai-Pune (North) tube is 293.5 m
and the Pune-Mumbai (South) tube is 400 m long. |
| 5 |
Kamshet-1 |
It has 2 tubes roughly 900 m each. |
| 6 |
Kamshet-2 |
359 m |
The entire length of expressway has a single layer of barbed wire fencing to keep out loose cattle.
Distances
Distances
|
Description |
Distance |
| 1 |
}) to Kon-Shedung interchange
| 8.5 km
|-
! 2
| Kon-Shedung interchange to Bhatan tunnel
| 6.3 km
|-
! 3
| Bhatan tunnel to Madap tunnel
| 10.6 km
|-
! 4
| Madap tunnel to Khalapur toll station
| 7.3 km
|-
! 5
| Khalapur toll station to Khalapur-Sajgaon gas station & rest area
| 1.6 km.
|-
! 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 256 m long tunnel.
| 6.9 km
|-
! 7
| Adoshi tunnel to the old British-built Deccan-Konkan stone trestle.
This is the site of the old (1830-1928) GIPR reversing station.
| 4.5 km
|-
! 8
| Stone trestle to Khandala tunnel
| 0.8 km
|-
! 9
| Khandala tunnel to Khandala
| 2.7 km
|-
! 10
| Khandala to Tungarli
| 3.5 km
|-
! 11
| Tungarli to Kamshet-1 tunnel
| 17.1 km
|-
! 12
| Kamshet-1 tunnel to Kamshet-2 tunnel
| 1.2 km
|-
! 13
| Kamshet-2 tunnel to Talegaon toll station
| 11.1 km
|-
! 14
| Talegaon toll station to Somatne interchange
| 3.4 km
|-
! 16
| Somatne interchange to End of Expressway (Pune end)
| 7.6 km
|-
!
|
Total length of Expressway: Start to End
|
93.1 km
|}
Tolls
Toll is collected at Khalapur (Pali Phata) (for the Mumbai-Pune direction) and at Talegaon (for the Pune-Mumbai direction). The toll ranges from Rs.140 for private cars, to Rs.960 for multi-axle trailer trucks.
Future Expansion
MSRDC has decided to extend the Mumbai Pune Expressway from the current endpoint of Kalamboli near Panvel and to extend it till Sion in Mumbai. The extended stretch will reduce commuting time between Mumbai and Pune by 30 minutes. Under the plan, the Panvel-Sion corridor will be widened, with dedicated lanes for heavy and light vehicles. Service roads will be built for entry and exit at various points. It will also involve constructing a brand new bridge over the Thane creek parallelly to the current Vashi Mankhurd Bridge. MSRDC will undertake the expansion project. Work is expected to commence in March 2009 and complete by September 2011. The new 22-km link is expected to cost Rs 800 crore.
Controversy about naming the expressway
The expressway was conceived and the work started when the BJP and Shivsena ruled the Maharashtra State. At some point they decided to name the expressway after one of the greatest Marathi litterateur Late Pu. La. Deshpande. Eventually, in 2009, the ruling coalition (Congress, NCP) named the expressway after the first Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Late Yashavantrao Chavan.
See also
- Expressways in India
The Expressways of India make up approximately of the Indian National Highway System. However, the National Highway System also consists of approximately 9,200 km of other roads that have four-lanes or more but do not have full control of access...
External links