Building Pune: PMC double-lanes Rajaram Bridge to end Sinhagad Road’s gridlock nightmare

The Sinhagad Road area has been undergoing extensive development in recent years, resulting in traffic chaos since it is the only road connecting this area to the heart of the city. The PMC previously constructed the Rajaram Bridge to connect Sinhagad Road to Karvenagar and diverted traffic from Sinhagad Road heading toward Swargate.

However, traffic issues have resurfaced due to increasing population density in the area. While the civic body built the city’s longest flyover on Sinhagad Road from Vadgaon Budhruk to Vithalwadi, which eased some congestion, significant bottlenecks persisted at the Rajaram Bridge, often resulting in vehicle queues of over one kilometer on either side during peak hours.

“We want to reduce the congestion on the Rajaram Bridge. So we will be increasing the number of lanes from four to six, with three lanes in each direction,” Gojare stated.

He added that traffic on Sinhagad Road will further improve with the upcoming opening of a new river bridge at Suncity and Karvenagar within the next two months, which will help reduce the load on the Rajaram Bridge. “The PMC has secured the necessary land for the development of a road connecting the new river bridge in Karvenagar to the Rajaram Bridge. This development will help eliminate the bottleneck in front of Matoshree Ashram in Karvenagar by creating an island,” Gojare explained.

These three developments associated with the Rajaram Bridge are expected to enhance the traffic situation and ensure a smooth flow of vehicles on both sides of the river, connecting Karvenagar and Sinhagad Road.

As part of the road widening project, the PMC has decided to conduct a traffic survey at the Rajaram Bridge over seven days. This survey will include collecting origin and destination details, turning movement counts, speed delay studies, traffic impact assessments, and traffic modeling.