Pune: For over two decades, Mangaldas Road resident Kishore Sidhwani enjoyed the simple freedom of stepping out whenever he wished. Today, that freedom has been replaced by anxiety.With Mangaldas Road converted into a one-way corridor to accommodate the long-delayed construction of the new four-lane Sadhu Vaswani Bridge, Sidhwani says even driving out of his lane has become a challenge. “Vehicles speed through the stretch, lane discipline is non-existent and a roadside vendor near my lane creates a blind spot,” the retired corporate employee told TOI. “I now need a driver and have to plan every trip in advance. It feels like I have lost the freedom to come and go as I please,” Sidhwani said. The situation is no better for pedestrians. “Crossing the road feels dangerous and there are hardly any usable footpaths,” he said. The bridge project, announced in Dec 2022, was expected to improve connectivity between Koregaon Park, Camp, Bund Garden Road, Solapur Road and Yerawada, while reducing travel times. After demolition of the old bridge, however, actual construction began only in June 2024. The project has missed multiple completion targets, slipping from March to May, then Aug, and is now expected to be completed only by Dec this year. The slow pace of work had even prompted Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar to write to Pune Municipal Corporation earlier this year, recommending that the contractor be blacklisted. Residents said the prolonged disruption had transformed daily life into a test of endurance. “There is no reason a project causing this much inconvenience should take so long. Mangaldas Road has become a major traffic artery because of the diversions. Residents spend nearly 20 minutes reaching Connaught Place, which is only a short distance away. Vehicles speed, change lanes abruptly, accidents are common, and crossing the road has become a nightmare,” citizen activist and former teacher Sathi Nair, a resident of the area for over a decade, said. The residents also pointed to rampant wrong-side driving by two-wheelers, autorickshaws and delivery vehicles seeking to avoid lengthy detours. “Several two-wheelers, three-wheelers and even mini-delivery trucks drive on the wrong side to avoid the longer route, making the stretch dangerous for everyone,” Nair said. The one-way system, the residents said, had also increased transport costs. “Even if we need to go to Camp, we have to pass through Bund Garden Road traffic and take a long loop back. We are paying higher auto and cab fares for extra kilometres while adding to the already chaotic traffic situation,” she said. The ripple effects extend well beyond Mangaldas Road. Residents of Boat Club Road now find themselves negotiating a maze of U-turns, narrow lanes and long waits to merge into fast-moving traffic. What was once a straightforward right turn from Koregaon Road now requires driving up to Blue Diamond Chowk, taking a U-turn and navigating congested junctions before reaching home. “I have lived here for 45 years and traffic has never been this bad, not even during Metro construction,” doctor Nita Munshi said, highlighting another growing concern in signal violations. “When one passes through Amrutlal Mehta Road to reach the signal near Bund Garden Metro station and connect to Boat Club Road, there is rarely a traffic policeman present. Because Boat Club Road is now one-way, motorists routinely jump signals and speed through red lights,” she said. For Roda Mehta, coordinator of Boat Club area residents, the bridge has become emblematic of larger urban planning issues. “Taxpayers are funding this project, yet they are the ones suffering,” she said. “Metro work has already left Bund Garden Road with poor road surfaces, incomplete dividers and accident-prone junctions. The current traffic arrangements have only added to the chaos.” According to Mehta, authorities have relied heavily on circular traffic movement to reduce signal dependency and manpower requirements, but the strategy has failed in this case. “People have accepted these arrangements reluctantly while waiting for the bridge to reopen. What the city needs is a single point of accountability and better implementation standards,” she said. Residents have identified two particularly dangerous conflict points. The first is the junction where traffic headed towards Koregaon Park and Yerawada intersects with vehicles arriving from Bund Garden Road. The second is the stretch where motorists from South Main Road and Naylor Road attempt to enter Sriman Galli, often struggling to find a gap in the fast-moving traffic from Blue Diamond Chowk towards Mangaldas Road. Mehta also pointed to institutional constraints faced by traffic police. “They cannot independently implement traffic measures. Every arrangement, whether it is traffic signals, no-parking signs or one-way regulations, requires coordination with PMC. That lack of streamlined authority has hurt the city,” she said. PMC officials maintained that work was progressing and pointed to significant engineering challenges. One of the most complex components is the installation of a 54-metre open-web girder railway span across the railway line. The project also faced delays due to a one-metre-diameter overhead water pipeline that supplied neighbourhoods such as Kalyaninagar and Gandhinagar. The pipeline has since been shifted underground after alternative arrangements were created, at an additional cost of Rs 2 crore. During an inspection in Aug, PMC commissioner Naval Kishore Ram said work was being expedited through coordination with railway and traffic authorities. The impact is also being felt in Sopanbaug, where residents now take lengthy detours through the perpetually congested Council Hall Chowk to reach Koregaon Park. “We have to use the Council Hall Chowk route, which is crowded throughout the day. It takes almost double the time and effort to reach Koregaon Park,” Sachin Khandelwal, convenor of the Sopanbaug Residents’ Association, said. He said increased traffic through BT Kawade Road and surrounding stretches has worsened congestion in the area. “Coming home from Koregaon Park, Kalyaninagar or Yerawada is no longer a straightforward drive. We have to travel through Residency Club Road or Council Hall Chowk, adding significant time to every journey,” Khandelwal said. OFFICIAL SPEAK We are confident of completing the bridge by Dec-end, provided there are no fresh hurdles. The pipeline issue has been resolved, with the overhead pipeline shifted underground. The railway department has scheduled a 15-day block for major works. We will now remove the old pipeline structure, install temporary supports for the 750-tonne bridge over the tracks and complete the remaining three spans — Dinkar Gojare | Chief engineer, projects, PMC The closure has put some pressure on adjoining roads, but with multiple routes to Camp, traffic remains under control. We have identified locations requiring pedestrian-crossing infrastructure and conveyed them to the PMC. We are following up, although budget constraints and other issues may delay the work — Sandeep Bhajibhakare | Deputy commissioner of Pune police (Traffic)
