Mumbai: The visitors to popular holiday destinations such as Khandala, Pune or Bangalore may soon get two new lanes and better driving conditions on Mumbai-Pune expressway as the Maharashtra Government is planning to widen the expressway into an eight-lane highway from the current six.

According to Jaydatta Kshirsagar, MoS for public works department, “ The proposal will be presented before the state Cabinet for approval within a couple of weeks.”

Currently, the six-lane highway covers a distance of 94 kilometre having six large tunnels and a concrete road which is weather proof. Mumbai-Pune expressway is India's first access-controlled highway which gives access to over 43,000 vehicles on a daily basis.

The move to widen the expressway comes in the wake of increased traffic congestion due to increasing number of vehicles going to western Maharashtra and Goa from Mumbai taking the expressway.