Mumbai Pune Missing Link Project opens on May 1. Why is it significant?

The Mumbai-Pune Missing Link Project is slated to be opened to public from Friday (May 1, 2026), on the occasion of Maharashtra Day. It is a stretch of 19.84 kilometres between Khopoli exit and Kusgaon, which addresses historical challenges of congestion and hazards on the existing route and bypasses the hazardous Borghat section to decongest traffic. There will be no additional toll charges. But what is the hype around the reduction of a distance of six kilometres on India’s first expressway? What is the significance of the reduction of travel time by 20-30 minutes on a regular day? The Hindu explains.

The Mumbai-Pune Expressway, which is India’s first access-controlled, tolled expressway, was fully operationalised in 2002. Since then, the stretch in the Western Ghats has been one of the most challenging stretches as the road narrows in the Borghat region, where the sharp turns and steep gradients make navigation more difficult. On a daily basis, this region leads to wastage of fuel worth ₹1 Crore. The average delay on normal days is around 30 minutes. It stretches to up to two hours during weekends, peak hours, festive times.