MSRDC to acquire 100 hectares of land for missing link project

In its bid to speed up travel between Pune and Mumbai, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has undertaken the ‘missing link’ project which entails eight lanes of the high-speed corridor.

Currently, the six-lane format is leading to congestion and traffic accumulation leading to complaints by highway users, MSRDC officials stated in the proposal.

The new project aims at the acquisition of 100 hectares of land to cater to the increasing demand by end users, said officials.

The MSRDC has moved a proposal before the state government seeking expansion of the highway from the existing six-lane format. Once complete, the new project will increase the vehicle carrying capacity of the highway and at the same time reduce travel time.

According to an official statement by the MSRDC, the Pune-Mumbai Expressway is presently of 6-lane cement concrete pavement with 2.5m wide paved shoulder on both sides having a length of 94 km. National Highway No. 4 from Shil Phata to Dehu Road is a 4-lane bituminous pavement with a length of 111 kms.

A top officer from MSRDC incharge of the project said, “The existing Mumbai-Pune Expressway section from the Khopoli exit to Sinhagad Institute is 19.8 km which will be reduced to 13.3 km after the construction of the new missing link. The project was approved for construction by the state government on June 13, 2017.”

The project comprises two twin tunnels (1.75 km and 8.92 km), two cable-stayed bridges (770m and 645m), one small bridge, and culverts (11 pipe culverts and two box culverts). The 645m cable-stayed bridge will comprise 170m tall parallel piers with decks approximately 100m above the ground at a total estimated cost of ₹6695.36 crore.