For long-delayed project, PMC will need nearly 280 acres and over Rs 5,000 crore

Recently, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis directed the PMC administration to complete the paperwork needed to start work on HCMTR. Accordingly, the civic administration has put the project on the fast track.

The HCMTR will be 24-metres wide, have six lanes, including two exclusive lanes for BRTS, and will have a speed limit of 50 km per hour for vehicles. The transit route will be connected with major city roads and 26 BRTS stations via 33 ramps, said the civic administration.

The HCMTR will start from Bopodi and run all the way till the Vishrantwadi junction. It will pass through Bopodi, Ambedkar Chowk, Pune University junction, S B Road, Erandwane, Dattawadi, Swargate, J N Road, Market Yard, Ganga Dham, Lulla Nagar, Wanwadi, Hadapsar Industrial Estate, Magarpatta, Wadgon Sheri, Viman Nagar and Lohegaon Airport, and end right before Vishranthwadi junction.

The ramps to connect to city roads are proposed to be built at Ambedkar Chowk, University Chowk, Senapati Bapat Road, Passport office, Paud Road, Karve Road, Swargate, J N Road, Lulla Nagar, Vaiduwadi, Magarpatta, Tadigutta, Phoenix junction, Symbiosis Road, New Airport road, Airport road and Rakesh Bote Chowk.

“The alignment is designed along the proposed centre line of the HCMTR corridor, as given in the PMC’s development plan. Wherever it’s not possible to follow the centre line due to constraints in space or technical issues, it will be re-aligned for the best fit possible,” said a civic officer.

Nearly 60 arterial and main city roads will be connected to the transit route, said the officer, adding that heavy vehicles, which are often on their way to some other place and are only passing through Pune, will be able to use the HCMTR instead of entering the city and clogging its lanes.

The transit route will be connected to major highways, such as NH 48, (between Mumbai and Bengaluru),

NH 65 (between Mumbai and Machilipatnam), NH 60 (between Pune and Nashik) and SH 27 (between Pune and Ahmednagar).

The civic body also plans to build two railway overbridges along the HCMTR elevated corridor, at Vaiduwadi and Tadigutta, over railway crossings.