DPR process for proposed double-decker flyover at Wagholi to start soon

With the bidding process over, work on the detailed project report (DPR) of the double-decker flyover on the Pune-Ahmednagar highway will soon commence. The 50 km-long proposed flyover will be built between Wagholi and Shikrapur at a cost of ₹6,000 crore.

Amol Kolhe, MP from the Shirur Lok Sabha (LS) constituency, said, “It is my firm stand that an 18-lane road with a double-decker bridge should be built between Shirur and Wagholi so that people can get permanent freedom from traffic on the Pune-Ahmednagar national highway, and speed up their traffic and communication. My sincere efforts have been successful and the bidding process for this work has been completed. The work of preparing the DPR will soon begin.”

Kolhe had written a letter to Nitin Gadkari, Union minister of road transport and highways, requesting speeding up of the work on the flyover. The existing road has four lanes which is causing traffic jams every day. The total length of the elevated road will be 52 km. The project had got a nod from Gadkari who recently instructed officials of the public works department (PWD) of Maharashtra to prepare a design for the same. Gadkari instructed the administration to make corrections in the proposed design and hire experts for the same after Kolhe sought a double-decker flyover. “The project is in its initial stages and a DPR consultant will be appointed soon,” said Bharat Dodkari, highway engineer, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

Ashok Pawar, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA from Shirur, said, “The DPR will be prepared in three to four months. Once the DPR is prepared, work will start. Here, we don’t have to do land acquisition work so we will start work on the flyover at the earliest. I had seen a two-storeyed flyover in Nagpur and such an elevated flyover is necessary for the Pune-Ahmednagar highway. Every day, around 1 lakh vehicles pass from this stretch and the highway has its own limitation so all 1 lakh vehicles cannot pass easily.”

“Lateral extension of the highway could have added to the cost of land acquisition but constructing a two-storeyed flyover (vertical construction) will not have the problem of land acquisition. The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government sponsored ₹270 crore. Now, we will request the current government to approve the budget for the flyover at the earliest. With a six-lane highway and six lanes on the first deck of the flyover followed by another six lanes on the top deck which makes it 18 lanes. There is a metro train too proposed on the upper deck,” Pawar said.

“Every day, nearly one hour is wasted on travelling – either one has to deal with traffic jams or the slow movement of traffic. A flyover will definitely ease traffic and we hope in a few years, the metro will make commuting easy,” said Shubhangi Rathi, a Wagholi resident.

Ashish Shah, another resident, said, “The traffic police must find out ways of diverting the traffic at least during peak hours to decongest the traffic.”