In a bid to solve the problem of increasing traffic chaos in the city, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is giving a push to its proposed intermediate ring road spanning 75 km that will provide an alternate route to commuters and help de-congest major radial junctions.
Of late, the Pune administration has been under sever criticism for the traffic chaos in the city that has not spared even the chief minister, quite a few Union ministers and the Chief Election Commissioner. While the PMC is responsible for infrastructure development, city police is responsible for traffic management.
According to PMC, Pune is a radial city rapidly growing in all directions. Lack of strong rail-based public transport and ring road are major causes of traffic issues in the city, officials said.
Pune has four proposed ring roads – the outer ring road being developed by Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), inner ring road being developed by Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA), elevated High Capacity Mass Transit Route (HCMTR) being developed by PMC and another being built by the PCMC (Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation).
“All of the above mentioned rings are difficult to be implemented in a short period of time owing to high cost, land acquisition difficulties and environmental constraints. All the radials are already saturated and severe traffic congestion and delays have been recorded. Lack of ring road increases the load on rest of road network causing severe congestion, pollution and delays. Pune urgently needs a ring road which will connect all the radials and will serve as alternative route for people. Thus, a consultant is being appointed for feasibility and traffic study, including land acquisition plan and detail project report, for proposed intermediate ring road,” said a senior PMC officer.
The intermediate ring road is formed by connecting the existing roads with missing links from the Development Plan. Since this ring falls between the proposed HCMTR and PMR ring road, it is named intermediate ring road. This proposal is already part of the approved Pune Comprehensive Mobility Plan prepared by PMRDA in 2018. All the undeveloped roads or missing links, dry irrigation canals which are not in use etc are taken from Development Plan.
“Connecting the missing links will create a ring which will join all the radials and help in smooth flow of the traffic. Connecting Nagar road with Solapur road, Solapur road with Satara road, Satara road with Sinhgad road, Sinhgad road with Karve road and Karve road with Pashan Baner road may help in reducing load on major junctions like Pune University chowk, Chandani chowk, Nal Stop, Nawale Bridge chowk, Katraj chowk, Hadapsar chowk, Wagholi chowk etc. Major connecting roads like Senapati Bapat road, law college road, Katraj Hinjewadi Bypass, Undri-Pisoli road, Magarpatta to Kharadi road, Holkar bridge road etc will have alternative roads,” said a PMC officer.
For the purpose, the agency will have to work in phases. The first phase will comprise deciding feasibility including traffic impact assessment and lane requirement analysis for entire project length, second phase will include land acquisition plan while the third phase will focus on preparation of Detailed Project Report.
