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December 2022 deadline for completion of Katraj-Navale bridge work
Commuters are facing daily risk along the stretch of highway from Katraj to Navale bridge chowk and after several deadlines missed, the road widening work is still incomplete
Commuters are facing daily risk along the stretch of highway from Katraj to Navale bridge chowk and after several deadlines missed, the road widening work is still incomplete. The Central Public Works Department (PWD) department has postponed the deadline for completion to December 2022.
Despite delays, work on the six-lane bridge at Katraj from Wadgaon till Navale bridge, which is a 4-kilometre stretch will soon be over, said officials.
“The main carriageway of the bridge is ready and so are the service roads except for some encroachments that are being dealt with. At least 30% of the work is remaining,” said Mahesh Patil, deputy engineer, national highway, Pune.
“What is causing the delay is the work on the two underpasses, whose proposals are with the ministry for road transport and highways for clearance,” he said.
In February 2019, Nitin Gadkari, union minister for road transport and highways, approved the project (six-lane concrete road replacing the existing four-lane road) to ease the traffic on the Wadgaon-Katraj stretch of the Dehu road-Katraj bypass.
The new highway route number 548 (DD) which begins from Navale bridge to Katraj, Katraj to Mantarwadi, Mantarwadi to Theur Phata and Theur Phata to Lonikand is a 45-km stretch of which six lanes are from Navale bridge to Katraj in phase one.
The ministry of road transport and highways has already sanctioned ₹96 crore for the 4-km stretch. Once ready, the six-lane lane road will have paved shoulders and a 7-metre-wide service road on both sides of the stretch.
According to the PWD official, the two light vehicular underpasses will be coming up at 2+460 km mark which is near the new DP road at Katraj and 3+070 km mark which is near the Katraj tunnel, at the Rajmata Jijau Udyan.
“The current underpass is small and has a lot of traffic congestion. To ease this traffic, we are constructing a new two lanes of 9 metres each and this project file is with the ministry, hence the delay,” added Patil.
