Stuck in the Ghats again? Here’s how close the Mumbai-Pune Missing Link is to opening

As massive snarls continue to paralyse traffic through the Ghats almost every weekend, this is a look at where the Missing Link stands in 2026, its viaducts, tunnels and towering cable stayed bridge, and how close it is to transforming one of Maharashtra’s busiest corridors.

What is the Missing Link project

The Missing Link, a Rs 6,695 crore project, is designed as a structural solution. By replacing the winding Ghat stretch with a straighter 13.3 km alignment carved through the Sahyadris, it aims to bypass the entire bottleneck.

Once completed, those driving from Mumbai to Pune will enter the Missing Link stretch at Khopoli, leave the existing expressway and drive about 840 metres on a viaduct before entering Tunnel 1, which is 1.75 km long. After exiting this tunnel, vehicles will travel 640 metres across a cable stayed bridge before entering Tunnel 2, which stretches 8.9 km. A part of this tunnel runs nearly 170 feet below the ground, under Lonavala lake, before emerging near the Sinhgad Institute side.

The elevated entry: a new path above the valley

The new alignment begins near Khopoli. From the Mumbai side, traffic will gradually leave the existing carriageway and rise onto a viaduct nearly 840 to 900 metres long and about 60 metres high.

Building this elevated stretch in forested terrain was not easy. Access roads had to be carved out before heavy machinery could reach the alignment. The valley’s wind patterns added another layer of difficulty.

Today, the viaduct structure stands complete, with finishing work underway. It forms the gateway to the underground section that follows, marking the transition from open highway to mountain corridor.

Tunnel 1: engineering beneath basalt

After the viaduct, vehicles enter Tunnel 1, roughly 1.6 to 1.75 km long. This marks the beginning of the most intensive engineering phase of the Missing Link.

“We did not have easy access to the alignment of the tunnels,” an official from Navayuga, the tunnelling contractor, said during a site visit. On the Mumbai side, traffic had to be diverted onto alternate roads to create access. On the other end, the tunnel exited high above Tiger Valley, where there was no road at all.

Engineers constructed two temporary adits, smaller access tunnels built at steep gradients, to move workers, vehicles and materials to the required height. Only after that could excavation begin.

Using the New Austrian Tunnelling Method, workers bored through the hard basaltic rock of the Sahyadris. As excavation progressed, the newly cut surfaces were immediately reinforced with rock bolts and sprayed concrete to ensure stability.

Structural excavation and reinforcement of Tunnel 1 are complete. What remains are finishing works and installation of safety systems.

Structural excavation and reinforcement of Tunnel 1 are complete.

The cable stayed bridge: spanning Tiger Valley

Emerging from Tunnel 1, the alignment rises onto a cable stayed bridge over Tiger Valley, the visual centrepiece of the project.

Two pylons soar 180 metres into the sky, anchoring parallel bridge decks. The pillars plunge nearly 184 metres into the thickly forested valley below. Around 240 steel cables support the deck.

Constructing the bridge at a height of about 125 metres required innovation, executed by Afcons Infrastructure Ltd.

“To build a bridge deck that high, we used a cantilever form traveller, like a moveable steel framework to work midair. The high wind speeds and wind vortex were a concern, which is why we installed four tower cranes measuring wind speeds at all times that would blare when the limit was reached to signal that work was not safe to continue,” said an official from the consultant, a joint venture of Louis Berger and Pinny Group. “In the four months of monsoon, heavy rain and fog made it difficult to work. Even then, coverings were constructed and some work continued.”

Deep foundations, about six metres below base level, were required to anchor the pylons securely. As of early 2026, the main structure stands complete. Only patching of a small deck section of about 15 to 18 metres remains before final surfacing and finishing.

Tunnel 2: the widest of its kind

If the bridge dominates the skyline, Tunnel 2 defines the scale of the project.

Stretching 8.9 km, the twin tunnels run through multiple hills, including a 2.5 km section beneath Lonavala lake at depths between 114 and 175 metres. At 24 metres wide, each tunnel accommodates four lanes in each direction along with 2.5 metre wide emergency lanes on either side, making them among the widest highway tunnels in Asia.

Nearly 40 lakh cubic metres of basalt rock were blasted and removed during construction, requiring about 5.7 lakh truck trips. Much of the rubble was reused in road construction.

While boring through hard basalt was challenging, the greater difficulty lay beneath the lake. Since the tunnel will be used for at least 100 years waterproofing and chemical grouting was undertaken to prevent seepage.

Nearly 2,000 workers have been deployed on the project, about 1,500 of them working on tunnel construction alone.

By 2026, civil works on Tunnel 2 are largely complete, with finishing touches and safety installations underway.

The state has set May 1 as the target for opening the project. “The Missing Link is the permanent solution to the traffic on the Ghat section,” said Anilkumar Gaikwad, Managing Director of MSRDC. “Once the deck is complete by mid March, only finishing works will remain.”