Commuters in Pune irked about U-turn at Rajmata Jijau flyover

Commuters are irked over the inability to connect directly to the Mumbai-Bengaluru national highway from the newly-built Rajmata Jijau flyover aka Sus-Pashan bridge that was opened to the public on September 4 last year. By contrast, the old bridge afforded options for commuters to connect directly to the highway from Pashan via service roads from both sides.

Now however, officials have blocked the right turn (when heading from Pashan) so that commuters need to take a U-turn before connecting to the national highway, and demolished the road connecting to the national highway from the left.

Ankit Tulpule, a regular commuter, said, “When heading from Pashan to Wakad, one has to use the service road after descending the flyover whereas when heading towards Chandni chowk, one has to take a U-turn before connecting to the Mumbai-Bengaluru national highway. The arrangement is tedious and time-consuming.”

Ajay Wayase, executive engineer, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) - special projects, said, “We have closed that right turn to avoid accidents because commuters coming from Pashan would use the same route to head to the national highway and vice-versa.”

“With this arrangement, many accidents would occur, especially at night. So, after consultation with the Pune traffic police, we have blocked that right turn for commuters coming from Pashan. It is not a permanent arrangement and we are taking feedback from commuters. Now people have to travel an extra 250 to 300 metres to get to the national highway and there are fewer chances of accidents,” Wayase said.

When a Hindustan Times reporter visited the site on Friday, many commuters were seen taking the wrong side to avoid the U-turn to connect to the national highway.

“We will inform the traffic police regarding people commuting from the wrong side. People should avoid such actions as it could cause accidents,” Wayase warned.

The Rajmata Jijau flyover aka Sus-Pashan bridge was opened to the public on September 4, 2022 by residents of Pashan and Susgaon as the PMC had been delaying the official inauguration. The construction of the bridge started in 2020 and was overseen by the special projects department of the PMC under the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) guidelines. The total cost of the project was Rs40 crores. The new, 18-metre-wide bridge accommodates more vehicles than the old bridge that was eight-metre-wide and inadequate for all the traffic from the residential societies and IT companies in Hinjewadi and Sus.