Deadline for completion of Missing Link project extended to May 2025
While the Mumbai-Pune Missing Link Project is nearing completion, the deadline for its completion has been extended to May 2025
PUNE: While the Mumbai-Pune Missing Link Project is nearing completion, the deadline for its completion has now been extended to May 2025. After completion of the project, the travel time and distance between Mumbai and Pune will reduce. The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) took up this project to reduce the distance between the two cities and free thousands of passengers travelling daily between them from traffic congestion.
Work on the Missing Link Project on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway started in March 2019 and is nearly 85% complete. A double tunnel is being constructed from the Khopoli exit to Koosgaon in Lonavala, work on which is almost complete. Whereas work on the cable-stayed bridge is in the final stage and will be completed by May 2025. The entire project is being implemented by the MSRDC with two private agencies working on it.
The 13.3 km-long Missing Link Project is an ambitious project of the state government. Under this, there are two tunnels of length 1.67 km and 8.92 km. World-class modern technology is being used for this project from the safety point of view. The tallest bridge and widest tunnel are being constructed on this missing link. Most importantly, there will not be any other toll to be paid for travelling through this missing link once it is opened to the public.
Giving details of the project, Rakesh Sonawane, MSRDC executive engineer and project in-charge, said, “The existing Mumbai-Pune Expressway section from the Khopoli exit to Sinhagad Institute is 19.8 km which will now become 13.3 km. This project has been proposed to reduce the distance between Mumbai and Pune by over 6 km, and the travel time by nearly 30 minutes to avoid traffic congestion. The missing link tunnel is the widest tunnel in Asia (23.30 metres) with four lanes and one emergency lane for each tunnel.”
“While there is a cable-stayed bridge with a length of 650 metres, the pillar height is 180 metres and the distance between the pillars is 305 metres. The project has been proposed to avoid the steep slope and the ghat section and make the existing expressway of 19 km from the Khopoli exit to Sinhagad Institute a ‘zero fatality corridor’,” Sonawane said.
“Whereas four-lane tunnels are being constructed in each direction on the highway. The length of one of these tunnels is 8.87 km. Also, the length of another tunnel is 1.67 km. And 98% of the work on these tunnels has been completed; now, only the work on the system in the inner part of the tunnel is going on at a fast pace. Two bridges are being constructed towards Khopoli to connect these tunnels to the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Of this, the 1.8 km-long bridge has been completed while the 950 metres-long cable-stayed bridge is in progress. Sixty to 65 per cent of the work on this bridge has been completed and the remaining work will be completed by May 2025. After that, the entire Missing Link Project will be opened for traffic,” Sonawane informed.