Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari Claims Mumbai To Bengaluru Drive Will Take Only 5.5 Hours [Video]

The Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, has once again made a bold statement. This time around, he has claimed that by the end of this year, the travel time of 18 hours, which it currently takes to reach from Mumbai, Maharashtra, to Bengaluru, Karnataka, will reduce to just 5.5 hours. Yes, you heard that right. According to Gadkari, after the construction of the new expressway, the travel time will be reduced to one-third.

Nitin Gadkari: Mumbai to Bengaluru in 5.5 hours

The clip of the interview in which Nitin Gadkari claimed that the travel time between Mumbai and Bengaluru will reduce to 5.5 hours has been shared on X by The Analyzer on their page. During an event, the MoRTH minister, Nitin Gadkari, stated that currently, in the first package of Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT), they will be connecting to the Pune Ring Road. He added that they (MoRTH) will be acquiring land for 40 lanes.

Gadkari highlighted that during the construction of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, they acquired less land, which has caused them problems. He then continued and stated that the new Pune Ring Road will now connect to Bengaluru via Mumbai. The minister mentions that after the completion of this project, it will take only 5.5 hours to go from Mumbai to Bangalore. As mentioned above, presently it takes around 18 hours to travel by road between these two cities.

The minister then mentions that before the construction of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, there were eight flights of Jet Airways between the two. However, after the construction of the expressway, all of them were discontinued. He added that by December, Delhi to Dehradun and Delhi to Jaipur flights will also be discontinued, as the travel time by road will reduce drastically.

Is it possible to travel from Mumbai to Bengaluru in 5.5 hours?

The expressway about which Nitin Gadkari is currently talking is the Pune–Bengaluru Greenfield Expressway. It will be an 8-lane greenfield expressway that will span roughly 700 km. The vehicles will be able to travel at a speed of 120 kmph. It will include 55 flyovers and 22 interchanges. According to reports, the primary 700 km greenfield stretch is estimated to cost between Rs 42,000 crore and Rs 50,000 crore.

Presently, the government has started acquiring land for this project. This particular expressway will start from Pune and end in Bengaluru, covering different cities in Maharashtra and Karnataka. And people who want to reach Bengaluru from Mumbai will first need to travel to Pune from Mumbai. For this, a new Mumbai-Pune Expressway II is being constructed.

The distance between the two cities will be 130 km, and an estimated cost of Rs 15,000 crore will be spent on the construction of this expressway. It will start near Atal Setu, close to JNPA, and end at Shivhare Junction in Pune. Currently, the travel time between these two cities is 2.5–3 hours. However, with the construction of the new expressway, it will be reduced to 90 minutes.

Now, coming to the question of whether the travel time of 5.5 hours from Mumbai to Bengaluru is possible or not, it has to be noted that, theoretically, a speed of 120 kmph will have to be maintained, and there should be no stoppages, including tolls, no congestion at the Pune entry, Mumbai junction, and expressway merges. However, in reality, the entry and exit in Pune and Mumbai are always significant, and traffic around Bengaluru is notoriously unpredictable.

So, just like the earlier claim of Nitin Gadkari, where he said that the travel time between Bengaluru and Chennai will be 2 hours (which is impossible), it seems like the claim of Mumbai to Bengaluru in 5.5 hours is very unrealistic.