E-Paper
Bopodi Chowk to Khadki stretch reopens for traffic from Sept 1
Stretch between Bopodi Chowk and Shivajinagar on the Old Mumbai-Pune highway closed due to Pune Metro works will reopen for traffic from September 1
PUNE Commuters can heave a sigh of relief as almost after two years, the stretch between Bopodi Chowk and Shivajinagar on the Old Mumbai-Pune highway will reopen for traffic from today (Friday) for two, three and four-wheelers. However, heavy vehicles will not be allowed to ply on the stretch, said officials.
The Old Mumbai-Pune Highway was closed between Bopodi and Khadki station for Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (Maha-Metro) due to Khadki Metro station and road widening work.
The traffic towards Shivajinagar on the route was diverted through the Khadki Cantonment area in 2021.
Due to the traffic changes, there were long queues of vehicles from Bopodi, Khadki, and Aundh road to Pimpri often seen in the area.
Khadki local residents also were complaining about traffic while commuters were waiting to open the road for traffic.
Finally, Maha-Metro conveyed to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) that they have completed Khadki station work and the civic body and traffic police can open the road for public use.
Hemant Sonawane, public relations officer of Maha-Metro, said, “We have completed Khadki Metro station work and there is no major work remaining of Metro on the stretch.”
Last week, PMC officials, Pune traffic police and Metro officials held a joint meeting and inspected the road. After that, PMC decided to open roads for traffic.
VG Kulkarni, chief superintendent engineer of road department of PMC, said, “We have decided to open one side of the road for two, three and four-wheelers. PMC is carrying out road widening on one side as well and Metro work has not been completed fully. So, we have decided to ban heavy vehicles.”
He said, “Road widening work takes at least three to four months. After that, we will open roads for all vehicles.”
Old Pune-Mumbai Road is a critical arterial road which connects Pune with Pimpri-Chinchwad. Rapid urbanisation and industrialisation in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad have overburdened the road, especially within Pune limits wherein the road width varies between 18 metres and 21 metres from Bopodi Chowk to Range Hill Chowk.
The width of the road within Pimpri- Chinchwad limits is 61 metres and adequate to cater to all modes of traffic. However, the width within PMC limits was not sufficient to cater to the traffic. Now, the problem has almost been solved after road widening.
