Widening of highways on cards

PUNE: The hurdles in the way of widening of state and national highways that pass through the district are likely to be cleared after a meeting on Tuesday between officials of the public works department (PWD) and the national highway authority of India (NHAI).
District collector Vikas Deshmukh, who had called the meeting, said, “The Pune-Nashik national highway, the Pune-Saswad-Jejuri state highway and the Talegaon-Chakan-Shikrapur-Navhara road projects have been delayed due to villagers’ opposition to acquisition of land. I have now asked officials concerned to hold discussions with villagers and initiate land acquisition process on priority. The officials will get police protection if required.”
Deshmukh said that traffic on national and state highways that pass through Pune has been increasing constantly. There is an urgent need to address the issue to streamline traffic, especially that of heavy vehicles, said Deshmukh.
Deshmukh said the district administration has already completed survey for land acquisition in nine villages along the Pune-Nashik highway, but the villagers have stuck the work. Similar issues were faced in the Pune-Saswad-Jejuri road project. The administration will deal with such oppositions and resolve the issues at the earliest, he said.
Deshmukh said there was a plan to contruct a 13-km by-pass between Talegaon and Chakan that will pass though the MIDC area. For this, there is a proposal to acquire 53 hectares of land.
The government has planned to widen the Pune-Nashik highway and the Pune-Saswad-Jejuri highway to four lanes from the existing two lanes. Besides, there is a plan to widen the Talegaon-Chakan-Shikrapur-Nhavra road to four lanes.
The widening of the Pune-Nashik highway will reduce frequent traffic jams at Narayangaon, Chakan, Alephata. The four laning of the Talegaon-Shikrapur road will reduce the number of heavy vehicles entering the city as vehicles coming from Mumbai will get direct access to Ahmednagar and Solapur highways.
Road widening projects in Pune district…
*Four laning of the Pune-Nashik highway
*Four laning of the Pune-Saswad-Jejuri state highway
*Expansion of the Talegaon-Chakan-Shikrapur-Navhara road
*Bypass from Talegaon to Chakan MIDC
*Four laning of the Baramati-Phaltan Road

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