Pune, 14 March 2026: The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has proposed a major expansion of the Pune–Mumbai Expressway, including the construction of six new tunnels and the addition of four extra lanes to handle the growing traffic between the two cities.
The detailed project report (DPR) has been submitted to the state government, and approval is expected in April.
The expansion project will require around 104 hectares of land and is estimated to cost about ₹14,500 crore. The work will be carried out under the Build–Operate–Transfer (BOT) model. Currently, the expressway has six lanes, and the plan is to increase this to ten lanes to reduce congestion and improve travel efficiency.
As part of the project, six new tunnels will be constructed at key locations along the route, including Khandala, Kamshet, Bhatan, Adoshi and Madap. These tunnels are expected to help improve traffic flow, particularly in the ghat sections of the expressway.
Traffic on the Pune–Mumbai Expressway has been steadily increasing due to several upcoming infrastructure projects around Pune and the Mumbai metropolitan region.
Projects such as the Pune–Nashik corridor, the proposed Purandar airport, Pune Ring Road, Navi Mumbai International Airport, the Kalamboli junction upgrade, the Vasai–Virar–Alibaug corridor, the Pune–Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar highway and the Pune–Bengaluru greenfield corridor are expected to further increase vehicle movement on the route.
At present, around 70,000 to 80,000 vehicles use the expressway daily. After the addition of four new lanes, the road is expected to handle nearly 1.5 lakh vehicles per day.
Rajesh Patil, Joint Managing Director of MSRDC, said, “The proposal to add four more lanes on the Pune–Mumbai Expressway has been sent to the state government for administrative approval. The project includes six new tunnels, and once construction begins, the work is expected to be completed within three years.”
