In a major relief to commuters travelling from Pashan to the Mumbai-Bengaluru bypass towards Chandni Chowk, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has announced plans to construct a grade separator. This project aims to alleviate traffic congestion and reduce the risk of accidents that occur when vehicles navigate the wrong way to avoid longer routes to the highway. The PMC has already built a flyover connecting Pashan to Sus across National Highway 48, which serves as the Mumbai-Bengaluru bypass, along with the service road. While the highway is accessible from both sides of the flyover to Sus, there is direct connectivity to Pashan only from one side. “Vehicles travelling from Pashan towards Chandni Chowk via the highway must first cross the flyover, make a U-turn, and then enter a subway to access the service road. This detour adds several kilometres to their journey. To avoid the longer route, many drivers take the wrong side along a steep slope, which creates challenges for vehicles ascending the slope from highways and significantly increases the risk of accidents,” stated Pawan Mapari, Deputy Engineer of PMC. The PMC is moving forward with the construction of a grade separator from Pashan to the service road heading towards Chandni Chowk. "A retaining wall will be built alongside the service road, adjacent to the grade separator, with an estimated cost of around Rs 9 crore," Mapari added. Additionally, the city police had also requested PMC to develop road infrastructure to resolve the traffic issue arising due to the unavailability of direct access to the service road or highway from Pashan, said Mapari. Residents from Pashan complain of the heavy traffic flow on the Pashan-Sus Road, which is making their commute from Hinjewadi to Pashan risky. "While ascending the road to Pashan, many vehicles enter from the wrong side at Pashan. If I have to travel towards Chandni Chowk, then I avoid the Pashan-Sus flyover road where there is a traffic jam and instead take the road through Sutarwadi," Suyash Patil, a Pashan resident, said. The Pashan-Sus road has witnessed rapid urbanisation in recent years, thanks to its proximity to Hinjewadi IT Park and several prominent educational institutions such as Symbiosis International University, Flame University, and Dhruv International School, LUPIN, a pharmaceutical company, and adventure park, Sunny's World.
