Pune Municipal Corporation begins widening highway in Bopodi to ease traffic congestion
Siddharth Gaikwad| TNN | Updated: Apr 8, 2018, 10:59 IST
PIMPRI CHINCHWAD: Commuters travelling on the Pune-Mumbai highway can expect the bottleneck at Bopodi to ease over the next six months after Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) completes widening of the Pune side of the highway.
Vehicular traffic converging from three lanes from Pimpri on the highway has to squeeze through two lanes on Harris bridge across the Mula river in Dapodi. Traffic snarls extend up to Phugewadi and Kasarwadi.
The other end of the bridge is in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits where the highway has two lanes for 200m till Bopodi chowk which has a traffic signalThe traffic police have made it mandatory for vehicles coming from Bopodi and Aundh through Bhau Patil Road to pass through the subway below Harris bridge and reach Bopodi chowk via a diversion to take a direct left turn to go to Khadki Bazaar. After crossing Bopodi chowk, the highway has just two lanes till the end of PMC limits which slows down traffic.
Chinchwad resident Amit Jadhav said, “ PMC must widen the highway in Bopodi so that more vehicles can cross the highway at Bopodi chowk to go to either Khadki Bazaar or Khadki railway station.”
Pimpri resident Sanket Kadam said, “There are four to five single-storied houses at Bopodi chowk. If they are demolished, it will enable the creation of one lane. Vehicles going to Khadki Bazaar can easily take a left turn without joining the vehicles waiting at the chowk.”
Kasarwadi resident Nitin Shinde said, “Ambulances cannot make their way through traffic snarls from Dapodi to Bopodi due to the narrow highway during peak morning and evening hours.”
Dapodi resident Satish Kale said a flyover at Bopodi chowk would ensure smooth passage for vehicles travelling to Pimpri and Pune.
Rajendra Raut, chief engineer of PMC’s road department, told TOI that the civic body is widening the highway from Harris Bridge to Sangamwadi at an expenditure of Rs 75 crore which includes the widening of the highway at Bopodi. “Work started in January 2017 and will end in January 2019,” he added.
Source : The Times of India
