Katraj-Dehu road bypass highway work going on at snail’s pace, citizens furious

PUNE: Due to the slow pace of work on the service road of the Katraj-Dehu road bypass highway near Navale bridge chowk, commuters are facing a lot of difficulties since the past one-and-a-half year

PUNE: Due to the slow pace of work on the service road of the Katraj-Dehu road bypass highway near Navale bridge chowk, commuters are facing a lot of difficulties since the past one-and-a-half year. The service road along the Katraj-Navale bridge chowk stretch is coming up at a snail’s pace with plenty of bottlenecks such as mud, huge rocks and construction material posing a risk to people’s lives.

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Sumedh Vanarase who stays near the Navale bridge chowk said, “The bypass highway near the Navale bridge chowk towards Katraj is in a terrible condition and affects the daily commute of thousands of citizens. I travel daily along the bypass highway and many a time, we have to slow down the vehicle as service road construction material comes in the way.”

Another resident Priyanka Khente said, “The service road work is going on very slowly and there is no other alternative road through the bypass highway. Many a time, vehicles come in opposite directions causing more traffic jams during peak hours. There are always bottlenecks at a couple of spots and we have to wait for long till the jam clears.”

Atul Namekar, secretary of the Sinhagad road- Warje residents’ association, said, “This bypass highway is a major road which connects several parts of Pune and the Pimpri-Chinchwad area. Hence, there is round-the-clock traffic movement along this bypass road. Earlier too, there have been many fatal accidents due to construction and repair works underway. There needs to be a permanent solution, and service road work should be completed fast with proper safety measures.”

Meanwhile, public works department (PWD) executive engineer Dhananjay Deshpande said, “The work on the service road of the bypass highway is going on in full swing and we will complete it soon.”

The Katraj-Dehu road bypass highway was opened in 1989 especially to facilitate the movement of heavy vehicles from outside the city limits. So, trucks and trolleys headed towards Mumbai and Gujarat from Bangalore and Kolhapur pass through this bypass highway. Along its 40km stretch though, it connects to several residential parts of the city starting from Katraj, Sinhagad road, Warje, Kothrud, Baner, Balewadi, Hinjewadi, Chinchwad and Dehu road.