Eastern Freeway
Mumbai Eastern Freeway
16.8 km
Open
Maharashtra
Expressway
Route
Eastern Freeway runs 16.8 km from P D'Mello Road (Orange Gate), Mumbai to Chheda Nagar, Ghatkopar, Mumbai.
Crosses Maharashtra.
Through Mumbai, Sewri, Wadala, Chembur and Ghatkopar.
Why it matters
The Eastern Freeway turned a punishing hour-long crawl into a twenty-minute drive, and it did it on the side of the city that had always been ignored in favour of the western suburbs. It is the backbone of Mumbai's eastern corridor: the Atal Setu pours into it at Sewri, the Eastern Express Highway carries on from it at Ghatkopar, and a tunnel now being dug will tie it to the Coastal Road on the western shore. Because it is toll-free and signal-free, it is also the route ambulances and buses depend on to reach south Mumbai quickly.
History
For most of Mumbai's history, getting from the southern tip of the city to the eastern suburbs meant crawling through the docks and Byculla with a traffic light every few hundred metres. The Eastern Freeway, built by the MMRDA, removed all of that: 16.8 km with not a single signal. It runs on a long elevated viaduct over the old dock lands and mill lands, drops to ground level near Anik, passes through twin tunnels cut into a hillside at Panjarpol, and then rises again on a flyover to meet the Eastern Express Highway at Chheda Nagar. The first stretch opened in June 2013 and the rest in 2014. Unusually for a big Mumbai road project it is completely toll-free, and since the Atal Setu opened at Sewri in January 2024 it has also become the main way traffic from Navi Mumbai reaches south Mumbai.
Good to know
- 16.8 km long with no traffic signals and no toll.
- Includes twin road tunnels near the Anik–Panjarpol hills — about 505 m and 555 m long, and 18 m wide.
- The 9.3 km viaduct from Orange Gate to Anik is one of the longest elevated road stretches in Mumbai.
- Connects to the Eastern Express Highway at Chheda Nagar, Ghatkopar.
- Since January 2024 it links at Sewri to the Atal Setu, giving a fast run to Navi Mumbai and the new airport.
- Built in three parts — a long viaduct, a ground-level tunnel section, and a flyover at the Chembur end.
- Riding above the old docks and mill lands, it gives one of the best road-level views of Mumbai harbour.
Timeline
- 2013First phase, from P D'Mello Road to Panjarpol, opens to traffic in June
- 2014Full 16.8 km freeway up to Ghatkopar becomes operational
- 2024Atal Setu opens at Sewri, funnelling Navi Mumbai traffic straight onto the freeway
Key junctions
- Orange Gate (P D'Mello Road) — southern end, near the docks and Mumbai CST
- Reay Road and Port Road — ramps down into the dock area of eastern south Mumbai
- Sewri — ramps to and from the Atal Setu across the harbour to Navi Mumbai
- Anik — where the long viaduct comes down to ground level
- Panjarpol — link toward Chembur, just past the twin tunnels
- Chheda Nagar, Ghatkopar — northern end, joining the Eastern Express Highway toward Thane
Engineering highlights
- Anik–Panjarpol twin tunnels — 505 m northbound and 555 m southbound, 18 m wide and 9 m high, cut through a hillside — Mumbai's first twin road tunnels
- Orange Gate–Anik viaduct — about 9.3 km of elevated road on pillars, threading over dock roads, railway lines and old mill land
- Panjarpol–Ghatkopar flyover — a 2.8 km four-lane flyover carrying the freeway over Chembur to reach Chheda Nagar
On the road
End to end takes about 20 minutes, against an hour or more on the old surface roads. There is no toll and no signal anywhere on it. It is busiest heading south into the city in the morning and north in the evening, plus a burst of Atal Setu traffic at the Sewri ramps. There are no fuel pumps or food stops on the elevated section itself, so fill up before you get on.
What’s coming next
- MMRDA is boring twin tunnels from Orange Gate to Marine Drive, due around 2028, which will link the Eastern Freeway directly to the Mumbai Coastal Road.
More details
- Lanes
- 4 lanes, with no traffic signals; 8 lanes on the Anik–Panjarpol link