Mumbai/Pune, May 26, 2026: In a major infrastructure push aimed at decongesting one of India’s busiest highway corridors, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has initiated the process of building a new access-controlled Mumbai-Pune Expressway, expected to reduce travel time between the two cities to 90 minutes.
Estimated to cost around Rs 15,000 crore, the proposed expressway will serve as an alternative high-speed corridor parallel to the existing Mumbai-Pune Expressway, which currently experiences heavy traffic congestion, especially on weekends and during holiday seasons.
New Mumbai-Pune Expressway route
According to media reports, NHAI has invited bids to prepare the Detailed Project Report (DPR) and conduct feasibility studies for the ambitious project. The proposed route is expected to begin in the Atal Setu–JNPA region near Navi Mumbai and extend to Shivare near Pune, where it will connect to the proposed Pune Ring Road.
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had earlier stated that the new corridor would significantly ease pressure on the current expressway while improving connectivity between Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru. Once completed, the Pune-Mumbai commute could be reduced to nearly one-and-a-half hours, while travel time between Pune and Bengaluru could also be substantially reduced.
New Mumbai-Pune Expressway key features and capacity
Officials said the 13-km expressway is designed to handle nearly three lakh vehicles per day. The corridor will include multiple tunnels, bridges, and elevated sections across the Sahyadri mountain ranges to ensure smoother, faster transit.
The move comes amid rapidly rising traffic volume on the existing Mumbai-Pune Expressway, India’s first six-lane access-controlled expressway, which has increasingly struggled with congestion and bottlenecks over the years.
The development also follows the recent inauguration of the 13.3-km “Missing Link” project on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, which has already reduced travel time by nearly 20 to 30 minutes by bypassing the accident-prone ghat section near Lonavala-Khandala.
New Mumbai-Pune Expressway: Impact on real estate, property prices
Infrastructure experts believe the new expressway could significantly reshape the real estate landscape across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Navi Mumbai, Raigad and Pune districts. Improved connectivity and shorter travel times are expected to drive demand for residential townships, plotted developments, logistics parks and commercial hubs along the proposed corridor.
Areas such as Panvel, Ulwe, Khalapur, Talegaon and regions near the proposed Pune Ring Road are likely to witness increased developer activity and gradual appreciation in land and property prices due to enhanced accessibility. The expressway could also boost demand for second homes, villa projects and hospitality developments in the Lonavala-Khandala belt as weekend travel between Mumbai and Pune becomes faster and more convenient.
Industry observers say the project may further accelerate growth in warehousing and industrial real estate because of improved connectivity to the JNPA port, the Navi Mumbai International Airport, and the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway network. However, experts also caution that speculative land buying may rise in some pockets even before the project reaches the construction stage.
While the project is currently in the DPR and feasibility assessment stage, officials indicated that construction timelines and land acquisition plans will be finalised once technical evaluations and approvals are complete.
