Relief for techies: Chinchwad to Hinjewadi road to be widened

Feb 18 2015 : The Times of India (Pune)

Relief for techies: Chinchwad to Hinjewadi road to be widened

Pune: TIMES NEWS NETWORK





PCMC Chief Puts Proposal In Draft Budget

People who commute to work from Chinchwad to Hinjewadi IT Park may finally get some relief from traffic congestion as the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation plans to widen the road from Shivaji chowk in Hinjewadi to Bhumkar chowk and further up to Dange chowk in Thergaon. The Shivaji chowk is
an important connecting point between the city with the Rajiv Gandhi IT Park. The draft budget presented by municipal commissioner Rajeev Jadhav to the standing committee on Monday proposes widening and redevelopment of several major roads and the Dange chowk-Bhumkar chowk-Shivaji chowk road is one of them. The PCMC plans to develop two roads simultaneously ­ the 1.8km road from Shivaji chowk to Bhumkar chowk and the second 3km road from Bhumkar chowk to Dange chowk. Jadhav said the PCMC has planned to develop eight major roads, construct rail overbridges and take up other works under the Bus Rapid Transit engineering department for which a provision of Rs 234 crore has been made. Jadhav claimed that the PCMC has developed important roads making it possible to travel from one end of the city to the other end in just 25 minutes. Jadhav said that because Pimpri Chinchwad is one of the fastest growing cities in the state, all other major roads will have to be developed. The PCMC, on the suggestion of the traffic police, has planned to widen a bridge that connects Hinjewadi with Chinchwad. The road from Dange Chowk to Bhumkar Chowk is wide, but it narrows down thereafter till Hinjewadi.The narrow single-lane bridge over the stream near Hinjewadi leads to bottlenecks. The lowheight bridge gets submerged if it rains heavy. The traffic branch had also suggested widening of the road from Shivaji chowk to Bhumkar chowk and removal of encroachments as one of the solutions to ease congestion. The traffic branch, in a presentation made last year, had listed various solutions including widening and asphalting of the road from Mezanine chowk to Bhumkar chowk via Marunji Phata, asphalting of the road between Shivaji chowk and Wakadkar octroi post where the MIDC has completed pipeline work and construction of a median from Shivaji chowk to Jambhulkar gym junction. Over 3.5 lakh people work in the Rajiv Gandhi IT Park which is being developed in phases. Most of the employees have to commute to work in their personal vehicles in the absence of a good public transport system. Some other roads which will be taken up for widening and development include the stretch from Nashik Phata to Moshi (6km) on the Pune-Nashik highway, PuneAlandi road (from Kate colony to Wadmukhwadi phata and Dighi to Bopkhel Phata road.