The Pune Mumbai Expressway (IND) is India's largest six-lane elevated, access controlled over-determined, toll-free motorway. It covers a total distance of 94.5 kilometers between Mumbai, the commercial capital of Maharashtra and Pune, the largest city of Maharashtra state. The Mumbai-Pune expressway follows the Odc-obic strategy, offering reliable and economical intra-city transport links. The Mu
mbai Delhi highway is also managed by the same company, as part of its joint venture deal with the Maharashtra government. This expressway connects various parts of Mumbai Mapusa, Borivali, Santacruz, Andheri, Vrindavan, Sinquerim, Navi Mumbai and Nagpur. The Mumbai-Pune Highway passes through three major cities and has three lanes in each of them: The Pune Borivali bypass road, The Pune Mahalakshmi stretch and The Pune Sawantwadi-Chembur Link Road. The entire route has a speed limit of 95 km per hour, except for the third lane which has a maximum speed limit of 80 km per hour. This three-lanes road includes three tolls, named after the cities along with a sidewalk, and covered with asphalt. The Mumbai-Pune expressway was constructed by the Maharashtra State Transport Department, through its departmental staff and local contractors. Initially, all the work was done through excavation in the existing roads, and new Expressways were built over them. The first phase of the project involved laying the foundation and making the necessary alteration to the existing roads and the new Expressways were built over these. The final stage included laying down the pavement, placing the guardrails, installation of speed humps, pavement barriers and turning lanes, electrical wiring, drainage system, tire rotations, guardrails and lighting. The expressway also involves constructing the tunnel under the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campus at Bidhanwara, which is about thirty-five kilometers long. The tunnel will help the workers of the IIT in reaching their various departments safely. Work on the tunnel began in January 1994 and is going on steadily. Work on the tunnel will continue until it is completed in five years. There are several reasons as to why the Adachi-Bidhanwara Expressway needs a thorough overhaul. The main one is that it is very difficult to control the traffic on this busy highway due to heavy jams and increasing vehicle speeds. There are frequent accidents due to swerving, braking and weaving. Thus, the toll charges levied on the traffic on the expressway needs to be increased substantially to compensate for the increased safety features of the tunnel. Another major reason behind the need for an overhaul of this expressway is that the frequency of accidents has gone up. According to officials, due to poor management, one out of every twenty-vehicle mishaps takes place on the Mumbai-Pune stretch of the Madap Tunnel. This has resulted in a very high incident ratio and daily heavy fines have been imposed on drivers found guilty. The third reason for the need for a complete overhaul of the Mumbai-Pune stretch of the Madap Tunnel is that the traffic has come down considerably during the past few months. During the peak hours, there are only three to four vehicles moving along the stretch. This means that the volume of traffic has fallen drastically. However, it is believed that this is mainly due to the demolition work being carried out in the Khandala tunnel, which directly affects the travel pattern of the traffic. If the work on the Khandala tunnel is not stopped soon, more traffic will start moving through the tunnel in the evening. To conclude, it can be said that the Madap Tunnel is no more the cause of great headaches for the residents of Mumbai and Pune. However, it is important to know exactly what is causing the reduction in traffic volume on the tunnel. If this problem is properly solved, it is expected that the traffic on the Mumbai-Pune (North) Expressway will go up by about twenty percent by the year 2021.
