Expressway alignment
| Various alignment options along the corridor were studied by the Transportation Consultants and Engineers (M/s RITES) to arrive at the most suitable route, dispersal schemes and also a direct route providing connection to Colaba -Uran Trans-harbour link.
To locate technically feasible and commercially viable route the following three corridors were identified by M/s RITES:
Eight expressway routes with a common start point in Belapur and the end point on the Pune Westerly Bypass were identified in the Borghat; one in the Tamhani Ghat, and one in Bhimashankar Ghat. These ten route options were investigated both by scrutiny of available mapping and reconnaissance of obligatory points in detail on the ground. The route within Tamhani Ghat and Bhimashankar Ghat in addition to being considerably longer than the existing route (NH-4) of 104.80 km traverse through very steep and difficult mountainous terrain. The Borghat corridor in which the existing route lies, presented the shortest alignment and was therefore proved to be the most direct and least expensive route. For the second stage evaluation, for finalising the alignment between Kon (on the NH-4 adjacent to the end of proposed Panvel Bypass) and Pune Westerly Bypass (near Dehu Road) traversing through Borghat corridor, with possible connectors from Belapur, Dhakti Jui via Chirle and ultimately to the proposed Trans-harbour link, was studied in detail. All the alternatives were evaluated by M/s RITES in terms of lengths of tunnels and viaducts, steepness and length of grades, construction costs and environmental considerations such as lengths passing through Reserved Forest areas, disruption to flora and fauna and proximity to human settlements. Based on the above study the alignment between Kon (adjacent to Panvel Bypass on NH-4) and Dehu Road (near Pune Westerly Bypass) was finally recommended by RITES. The recommended alignment starts from proposed Panvel Bypass on Mumbai side and runs close to and almost parallel to the NH-4. It bypasses Khopoli, Khandala, Lonavale before reaching its end point on proposed Pune Westerly Bypass near Dehu Road after traversing a distance of 86.4 km. The salient design features are given in Table 1. The proposed alignment passes through the following districts and talukas:
Table 1. Salient design features proposed for Mumbai Pune - Expressway
(Source: RITES & SWK, 1995 ) The total length of the proposed expressway is divided into the following six segments.
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Last Updated: October 9, 2015
