(Image source from: PTI)
Driving from Pune to Bengaluru at this time takes around 14 to 15 hours on a busy, 783-km road. A new expressway is planned to reduce that travel time to about 7 hours, and the route has now been determined. The Pune-Bengaluru Expressway will be an approximately 700-km highway designed for controlled access under the Bharatmala Phase II project, running alongside the current NH-48 through the states of Maharashtra and Karnataka. It will start at Kanjale on the proposed Pune Ring Road and finish at Muthugadahalli on the Satellite Town Ring Road in Doddaballapur taluk, as reported by Deccan Herald. Additionally, it will connect with the Mumbai-Pune Expressway at the Pune end. Unlike the previous highway, the new path will avoid going through the cities of Satara, Sangli, or Kolhapur. This avoids congested areas, helping traffic flow smoothly.
The route enters Karnataka at Bommanal in Athani taluk and passes through the districts of Belagavi, Bagalkot, Gadag, Koppal, Vijayanagara, Davangere, Chitradurga, and Tumakuru before arriving in Bengaluru Rural. The section in Maharashtra travels through three districts—Pune, Satara, and Sangli—before the route crosses into Karnataka. The stretch in Satara goes through the Western Ghats, where tunnels will be constructed to deal with steep slopes. This new path shortens the distance between Pune and Bengaluru by about 95km. With a design speed of 120 km/h, the journey is expected to be cut down from 14-15 hours to about 7 hours, with some estimates suggesting it could take even closer to 6. This will be the first national highway in Maharashtra to include a landing strip for emergency aircraft. The alignment will also cross 10 major rivers, such as the Krishna, Ghataprabha, and Malaprabha. The Detailed Project Report estimates the cost to be around Rs 42,000 crore, while some reports suggest it could be as high as Rs 50,000 crore. Karnataka will need to acquire about 5,205 hectares of land for the project.
With the route finalized, the focus will now shift to acquiring land, and construction is projected to start in 2026. If everything goes as planned, the project could be finished by 2028, making the Pune-Bengaluru drive shorter than a full workday.
