Building Pune: As work on Outer Pune Ring Road gathers steam, fencing of land to begin

The land will be cleared and grubbed and existing structures will be dismantled. Watchmen will also be employed to protect the land and the construction work, the official added.

The Outer Pune Ring Road is divided into two parts. While the 74.08 km stretch from Urse on Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway to Shivare on Pune-Satara national highway will be known as Eastern Ring Road, the 65.45 km circular road from Shivare back to Urse will be known as Western Ring Road.

The proposed road is being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 15,857 crore and is planned to be completed in 30 months from the actual start of work. The state government has already allocated Rs 11,000 crore for land acquisition for the project and the construction will be done in nine packages.

The MSRDC conceptualised the greenfield alignment of the access-controlled Outer Pune Ring Road to divert the traffic passing through Pune city from outside the city towards other cities, without letting vehicles enter the city. Presently nine national highways and an expressway cross the city of Pune. Even those who have no intention of travelling through Pune have to do so. The Maharashtra government decided to construct the Outer Pune Ring Road to decongest Pune roads, thereby reducing the air pollution in the city. The proposed road will let the outbound traffic cross Pune without entering the city.

The overlapping stretch of Yashwantrao Chavan Mumbai Pune Expressway and Outer Pune Ring Road has been considered for widening and providing approaches as well as exits from the expressway and the proposed road. The width of the road will be between 90 metres and 110 metres with three lanes on either side for 97.80 km and four lanes on either side on a 39 km stretch. Designed for vehicles with speeds of 120 kmph, the new road will pass through 83 villages.

The MSRDC will install noise barriers on the stretch passing through urban areas and have wayside amenities at five locations. There will be 14 interchanges, eight pedestrian underpasses, six smaller vehicular underpasses, 13 light vehicle underpasses, 37 vehicular underpasses, 28 vehicular overpasses, three railway overbridges, 16 major bridges, 38 minor bridges, 230 culverts, 10 tunnels and 18 flyovers on the Outer Pune Ring Road. An Intelligent Traffic Management System will also be in place.

The Outer Pune Ring Road was approved by the state government in 2015 after it was realised that the heavy vehicle traffic from Mumbai to Kolhapur, Solapur and Ahmednagar as well as from Kolhapur to Nashik, Ahmednagar and Solapur, and traffic from Nashik to Solapur was creating traffic chaos in Pune city and causing pollution.

Outer Pune Ring Road: What Lies Ahead