RAS question
The Mumbai-Pune Expressway was India's first:
Correct answer: (A) Six-lane expressway (opened 2002).
The Mumbai-Pune Expressway was India's first six-lane access-controlled expressway.
Explanation
The Mumbai-Pune Expressway is tested here as a landmark in India's transport infrastructure, not merely as another road between two cities. It was a 94.5 km expressway opened in 2002, built to cut Mumbai-Pune travel time from about 4 hours to about 2 hours. The official Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Ltd. project page gives the core identification: under salient features, it describes the project as India's first access-controlled expressway with six-lane concrete pavement and also calls it India's first six-lane access-control expressway. The same page records that the expressway was opened for its full 95 km length in 2002, which confirms why option A captures the defining feature.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Metro rail is wrong because the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Ltd. page describes the Mumbai-Pune project as an expressway with six-lane concrete pavement, not an urban rail system.
- (C) Railway line is wrong because the project is identified as the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, with road features such as lanes, pavement, interchanges and toll plazas.
- (D) Four-lane highway is wrong because MSRDC specifically calls it a six-lane access-controlled expressway.
Concept
This tests the transport infrastructure part of Indian geography, especially landmark road projects and their distinguishing features. RAS often asks such first-in-India facts because they link location, infrastructure type and regional connectivity.