International travellers from Pune can rejoice as the new link road on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway, which bypasses Lonavala town, is set to significantly reduce travel time to the Navi Mumbai International Airport, which is scheduled to open in April. "The work of the missing link project is 90 per cent complete, and most of the civil work is complete. It will reduce the travel time by half an hour for those commuting between Pune and Mumbai," said Rakesh Sonawane, executive engineer of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC). He said the deadline for completing the project is June, and the work is going on in full swing to be completed on time. "We are aware that the Navi Mumbai International Airport is likely to be inaugurated by April, and people are keen to have faster access to the international airport, which is alongside the Expressway. The road project is a tough project as it has two tunnels and two valley bridges, so no risk can be taken by hastening the project," said Sonawane. Currently, the distance from Pune to the Mumbai International Airport is approximately 160 km, which typically takes at least four hours for travellers heading for international flights. In contrast, the new international airport in Navi Mumbai is 120 km from Pune, allowing for a travel time of about two-and-a-half hours. Furthermore, access to the new airport is expected to improve significantly with the opening of a link road that bypasses Lonavala town, potentially reducing the travel time from Pune to a maximum of two hours. 2 cable bridges, 1,7 km tunnels The link road shortens the expressway distance by 6.5 km as it bypasses 19.8 km of the existing stretch of the Expressway from the Khopoli exit to the Sinhgad Institute in Kusgaon. The link road itself is 13.3 km long, cutting across the hills for 8.9 km and including 1.7 km of tunnels. Additionally, it features two cable bridges measuring 840 meters and 650 meters in length. "The project features include safety measures including emergency medical service to tackle any eventuality and state-of-the-art Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS)," said another MSRDC official. The Rs 6,595-crore project aims to eliminate the steep slope and ghat sections, transforming the stretch from the Khopoli exit to Kusgaon into a "zero fatality corridor". The project began in 2019 and was originally scheduled for completion in 2022, but it faced delays due to the pandemic. The expressway was built two decades ago and has seen an increase in traffic each year. The missing link project was proposed to address traffic jams and the rising travel time in the Lonavala ghat section. The MSRDC expects an increase in traffic flow after the opening of the missing link and the international airport in Navi Mumbai, so the widening of the existing expressway will be undertaken in the future.
