Chandni chowk bridge demolished but bigger challenge lies ahead

The challenge is to speed-up the work of constructing and extending the lanes of the highway road in the next eight days

Now that the old bridge at Chandni chowk has been demolished, the debris removed by authorities, and both lanes of the Katraj to Dehu road bypass highway reopened to traffic, the bigger challenge before the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and Pune district administration is to speed-up the work of constructing and extending the lanes of the highway road in the next eight days. Because the main reason behind the demolition of this bridge was to provide a permanent solution to the daily traffic jams in this area for which, extending the lanes of the highway road is a must.

Heavy vehicles seen on Satara - Dehu road highway near Narhe after Chandni Chowk bridge demolition. (Ravindra Joshi/HT PHOTO)

Sanjay Kadam, NHAI Pune project director, said, “The entire demolition process - since it started around a month ago till today morning when the actual bridge was demolished and the bypass highway reopened for vehicles – was carried out well. But our work does not stop here as the major challenge is to construct the six lanes and extend the highway in this coming week. We have been given a target of eight days to carry out the work, and work has already started as the side rocks of the bridge have already been removed. Now through blasting and breaking via machines, the highway will be widened.”

“Work on the extension of the highway lanes will be carried out speedily so that the real issue of traffic congestion during peak hours will be somewhat resolved. Some of the side rocks at the chowk are still remaining and once they are removed, work on construction of lanes will also be carried out this week,” Kadam said.