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 94.5km connecting Mumbai, the administrative capital of Maharashtra 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 between the cities of Mumbai and Pune to approximately two hours. For most practical purposes, it has replaced the older Mumbai-Pune stretch of the Mumbai-Chennai National Highway, which had become extremely congested and accident-prone over time. The expressway starts at Kalamboli, and ends at Dehu Road . 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 with three concrete lanes, each 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 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 2 metro cities and helped the economy.