Vishrantwadi Chowk revamp project likely to begin in Jan

Pune: The PMC expects to start the long pending Vishrantwadi Chowk revamp project from January next year.The junction will have a flyover and two underpasses to streamline traffic on Vishrantwadi to airport, Vishrantwadi to Alandi, and airport to Alandi stretches. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has started the process of appointing an agency to execute the work. The estimated cost of the work is Rs 65 crore.The Vishrantwadi Chowk has been facing frequent traffic snarls, with long queues of vehicles at the junction during rush hours. There has been no respite from vehicular congestion despite widening of the stretch from Vishrantwadi towards the chowk, regular commuters said.A PMC official said, “A study of vehicular movement was taken up following which a flyover has been proposed connecting Alandi Road with Airport Road, and two underpasses. The agency will design the structures and execute the work. The flyover and underpasses will eliminate the need for vehicles to stop at the chowk, besides pedestrians will be able to cross the junctions without any hassle”.Santosh Nikam, a resident of Dhanori Road, said that the chowk has become a major challenge due to increasing traffic. “We are hoping that the administration will complete the work of flyover and underpasses as early as possible,” he said.Alandi Road resident Ajay Shinde said that Alandi and Airport roads have already been widened. The chowk has been witnessing traffic congestion, which can be reduced either by re-routing the traffic or by constructing a flyover, he said.Local MLA Sunil Tingre has been following up on the issue with the PMC and the state government. He said that the civic administration should extend all assistance, including adequate land plots and disburse funds for faster execution of the project.The PMC has taken steps to provide more space to widen Dhanori Road to clear bottlenecks, but that has not helped, said residents.Meanwhile, PMC officials said that the existing foot over bridge at the Vishrantwadi Chowk will be dismantled. “Since the vehicular traffic at the chowk will reduce after construction of the flyover, pedestrians will be able to cross the junction at the grade,” officials said. This bridge will be re-installed at other locations in the city for pedestrians. “Vishrantwadi Chowk requires flyover or a grade separator as the volume of traffic has reached a saturation point. People are spending lot of time in long queues of vehicles to cross the chowk, which remain choc-a-bloc throughout the day. There should be a solution to this problem at the earliest. The civic administration should take adequate steps to ensure that citizens do not suffer every day,” Yogesh Gosavi, a resident of the area, said.
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