PMC approves Rs 92 crore for construction of flyover-cum-grade separator at Thackeray Chowk on Deccan College road

The estimated cost of the project was Rs 115 crore but the lowest bidding agency has been awarded the contract for the construction work, said the civic chief adding that if there is variation in design or technical issues, the additional expenses will be paid to the contractor accordingly.

Dinkar Gojare, incharge of civic (projects) department, said the construction would be done in phases so that there is not much inconvenience to citizens using the road stretch where the flyover and grade separator would be constructed. “The work on one arm of the grade separator might be taken up first. The city police will be consulted on implementation of the project,” he said.

Gojare said the project has been undertaken at the junction as the traffic on Deccan College Road has increased where Sangamwadi Road and Deccan College Road intersect at Bindu Madhav Balasaheb Thackeray Chowk in Yerawada. The junction allows connectivity to central parts of Pune, Pune Airport, Nagar road, Old Mumbai-Pune highway and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) via Kirkee, further adding to the chaos.

Pune is mainly connected to the airport through Bund Garden and Sangamwadi bridges, both of which meet the Deccan College Road in Yerawada. The proposed flyover-cum-grade separator project is expected to ease the traffic situation on Deccan College Road and smoothen traffic flow from the city to the airport and Nagar Road, said Gojare.

It will be a four-lane, two-way flyover from Bund Garden to Khadki and Alandi Road, along with a three-lane, one-way grade separator from Sangamwadi to Bund Garden and Ambedkar Chowk on the way to Pune airport. The four-lane flyover will be 530-metre long and 15.6-metre wide, with an approach of 200 metre on the Khadki side and 170 metre on the Bund Garden side.

The unidirectional grade separator for traffic moving from Sangamwadi to Ambedkar Chowk and Bund Garden will be 740-metre long, including a covered stretch of 140 metre, an open stretch of 600 metre and a carriage width of 9 metres on the Sangamwadi side and 7.5-metres wide each on Ambedkar Chowk and Bund Garden sides.