Mumbai Pune Expressway

The Mumbai-Pune Expressway is India's first six-lane concrete, high-speed, access controlled tolled expressway. It spans a distance of 94.5 km connecting Mumbai, the administrative capital of Maharashtra state and the financial capital of India, with Pune, an industrial and educational hub. The expressway, which was fully operationalized in 2002, introduced new levels of speed and safety in automobile transportation to Indian roads. It is one of India's busiest roads.The expressway has reduced the travel time from Mankhurd where Mumbai city ends to Pune to about two hours. It has supplemented the older Mumbai-Pune National Highway (old NH 4) which had become extremely congested and accident-prone. (NH 4 has been renumbered NH 48 after renumbering of all national highways by National Highway Authority of India in 2010 year.) The expressway starts at Kalamboli (just before Panvel) and ends at Dehu Road (just before Pune). It cleaves through the scenic Sahyadri mountain ranges through passes and tunnels. It has six interchanges: Shedung, Chowk, Khalapur, Lonavala, Kusgaon and Talegaon.The expressway has two carriageways, each with three concrete lanes, separated by a central divider and a tarmac or concrete shoulder on either side. Vehicles with fewer than four wheels and agricultural tractors are not permitted, although tractor-trailers (semi-trailer rigs) are permitted. The expressway handles about 43,000 PCUs daily, and is designed to handle up to 1,000,000 PCUs. This road has improved transport between these two metro cities.