Afcons delivers India's tallest road cable-stayed bridge on Mumbai-Pune Expressway Missing Link Project

PRNewswire
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 1: The wait for safer and faster travel between Mumbai and Pune is finally over with the completion of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway Missing Link Project, with its inauguration at the hands of Honorable Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The Missing Link Project, featuring India's highest road cable-stayed bridge, bypasses the Khandala Ghat section.

The 650-metre-long viaduct features India's tallest road cable-stayed bridge. This section is being executed by Afcons Infrastructure Ltd. At the 650-metre viaduct, engineers are constructing 182-metre (597 feet) high pylons, taller than the 128-metre (413 feet) pylons of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, making it the highest bridge ever built for an Indian road project. Designed with four carriageways on each viaduct, the structure features a soaring 182-metre pylon and is supported by 240 cables.
"The journey to completion has been anything but easy. The bridge, located in the Sahyadri region, presented extreme challenges: narrow ridges left little room for heavy machinery, wind speeds could shift from a gentle breeze to violent blasts of 100 km/h within minutes, and monsoon rains turned cliffs into cascading sheets of water, halting work instantly. Fog often rolled in without warning, reducing visibility to just a few metres. Despite such formidable challenges, we are proud to deliver this engineering marvel," said Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Executive Chairman, Afcons Infrastructure Ltd.
"Working at such heights, construction activities such as welding and segment lifting demand extraordinary precision, courage, and patience. Engineers and workers, often positioned on narrow ledges above deep valleys, operate under world-class safety and quality standards, using advanced construction methodologies to maintain both speed and accuracy," said Ranjan Kumar Mishra, Project Director, Afcons.
The Package II of the Missing Link Project, executed by Afcons, comprises two eight-lane viaducts, 850 metres and 650 metres long, along with the widening of the expressway from six to eight lanes over 5.86 km, and the construction of more than 10 km of approach and slip roads.
"The construction of the pylon shaft was carried out using a self-climbing shuttering system, defying gravity and the strong winds of the Sahyadris. For building the deck segments, four tower cranes at a height of 182 metres work in coordination with eight 350-ton cantilever form travellers (CFTs). Advancing gradually through open space, they construct the bridge's deck segments one by one. The 182-metre pylons, visible from afar, will form part of a bridge rising over a deep valley, with each deck segment built with exceptional precision," added Mishra.

Project at a Glance
- Mumbai-Pune Expressway Missing Link Project (Package-II)
- Bridge height: 136 metres (India's tallest road cable-stayed bridge)
- Tallest pylon: 182 metres
- Viaduct I length: 850 metres
- Viaduct II (cable-stayed) length: 650 metres
- Expressway widening: From 6 to 8 lanes over 5.86 km
- Approach roads: 10.2 km

About Afcons Infrastructure Ltd
Afcons Infrastructure Ltd is flagship infrastructure engineering and construction company of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group. It has a legacy of over six decades, with strong track record of executing numerous technologically complex EPC projects both within India and internationally. As per the latest ENR survey, Afcons is ranked in Top 140 international Contractors globally; 12th in Bridges and 8th in Marine & Ports.
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