Plan to up speed limit on Mumbai-Pune Expressway not finalised

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has sought opinion from the automobile manufacturing industry over plans to increase the speed limit on the 94 km-long Mumbai-Pune Expressway from the existing speed limit of 80 kmph.

The MSRDC plans to increase the speed limit on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway after the Centre had revised the maximum speed limit on Expressways to a 120 kmph. Also, the decision of increasing the speed limit is expected to bring down the number of speed limit violation cases considering it is perceived that speed limit of 80 kmph is very low.

A MSRDC official said, "We have sought opinion from the automobile manufacturing industry on whether increasing the speed limit would be a feasible option. There is a committee which also has civil engineers along with health, and the home department. The committee is currently looking into the plan of increasing the speed limit on the expressway."

SaveLife Foundation, a NGO that is working with MSRDC to make Mumbai-Pune Expressway a zero-fatality corridor, cites that though there is no official speed limit notification for the expressway by state government but having the same will help law-enforcing agencies to curb menace of speeding.

Piyush Tewari, Founder and CEO of SaveLIFE Foundation, said, "The implementation of speed limit by the state Highway Traffic Police is based on a maximum speed limit set by the Centre i.e. 120 kmph but the posted speed limit by MSRDC is 80 kmph. There is no official notification on the same by the state government, and hence this issuing of notification is very essential and crucial."

Tewari added, "Basis on our study and analysis, I think the speed limit of around 100 kmph on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway is perfect, and in ghat section it can be limited to around 50-60 kmph."

2017 saw the highest number of accidents (360) on the 94 km-long Mumbai-Pune Expressway in the last five years wherein 105 lives were lost and 147 were seriously injured. However, data reveals that number of deaths were lowest in 2017 in the last five years despite the number of overall accidents which have increased. Till now, in December, around 100 deaths were reported on the expressway due to accidents.