• Source:JND

Maharashtra News: Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has announced a major infrastructure plan for Maharashtra, including a second Mumbai-Pune Expressway and a new Pune-Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar greenfield expressway. The new expressway and corridors are expected to reduce travel time between two key cities and alleviate traffic congestion on current highways.

Speaking during a media interaction at the Vidhan Bhavan in Nagpur, Gadkari said, “Road development work worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore has been approved across the state for the coming year. Of this, projects worth nearly Rs 50,000 crore have been approved for Pune district alone, all of which are expected to begin within the next three months.”

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Second Mumbai-Pune Expressway: Check Details

- The 130 km-long expressway will be constructed parallel to the current Mumbai-Pune Expressway at an estimated cost of Rs 15,000 crore.

- This new corridor will connect the Atal Setu (near JNPA) with Shivare Junction in Pune, Times Now reported.

- Gadkari said that the first phase, spanning from Pagote (near JNPA) to Chowk (Panvel), has already been approved.

- Once operational, the corridor will reduce Pune-Mumbai travel time to just one-and-a-half hours (90 minutes) and allow the Pune-Mumbai-Bengaluru trip to be completed in five and a half hours.

- Calling the existing Mumbai-Pune Expressway a ‘landmark project’, Gadkari said that the new parallel expressway is expected to further enhance connectivity between Maharashtra’s key economic centres.

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New Pune-Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Greenfield Expressway: Check Details

- Gadkari also announced a new greenfield expressway connecting Pune and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, which will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 16,318 crore.

- The expressway will be implemented in phases, with the first running through Pune-Ahilyanagar-Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, and a second alignment starting from Shikrapur, bypassing Ahilyanagar, and passing through the Beed district, Times Now report added.

- The Pune-Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar greenfield expressway will slash travel time between Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Nagpur to approximately two-and-a-half to three hours.


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