Pune-Mumbai 'Missing Link' opens May 1

A new 13.3-kilometre bypass on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway is set to open on May 1, with officials saying it will shorten the trip through the ghat section. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is scheduled to inaugurate the stretch on Maharashtra Day, and the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation said only cars and buses will be allowed on it for the first six months. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) The project costs about ₹6,695 crore and runs between the Khalapur and Kusgaon section of the 95-kilometre expressway, where traffic has long slowed through the Khandala-Lonavala ghat. (hindustantimes.com) Officials have said the new alignment will cut the route by nearly 6 kilometres and reduce travel time by about 25 to 30 minutes once traffic shifts off the older ghat stretch. (hindustantimes.com, thebridgechronicle.com) The “Missing Link” is not a small connector road. It is a rebuilt mountain crossing with tunnels, viaducts and a cable-stayed bridge designed to bypass sharp curves and bottlenecks on one of India’s busiest intercity corridors. (hindustantimes.com, punemirror.com) Recent reports on the final design describe a roughly 1.64-kilometre tunnel, another tunnel of about 9 kilometres, and a cable-stayed bridge over Tiger Valley, with load testing under way this month before opening. (punemirror.com, thebridgechronicle.com) The first-phase vehicle restriction reflects how the state plans to introduce the road: passenger traffic first, then a review of heavier vehicles after the monsoon and traffic studies. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com, punekarnews.in) The road has been under construction for nearly six years, and earlier target dates slipped as work continued on the bridge, tunnels and finishing layers needed for the new alignment. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com, hindustantimes.com) If the May 1 launch holds, the expressway’s most accident-prone and congestion-heavy mountain segment will start shifting to a straighter, faster route before the 2026 monsoon. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com, thebridgechronicle.com)