A road repair that was supposed to ease movement has instead created a months-long hazard for thousands of daily commuters. The service road between Nigdi and Pimpri has become a landscape of sunken drainage chambers and potholes, with residents demanding urgent intervention after repeated complaints failed to yield results. The stretch, already under stress from metro construction, now poses direct safety risks for two-wheeler riders, public bus passengers, and school children.
The core problem is a textbook case of poor civic coordination. Engineers recently laid fresh bituminous surfacing from Nigdi Chowk to Bajaj Auto in Akurdi, raising the road level considerably. But the drainage chambers were left at their original depth—creating depressions nearly half a foot deep exactly where vehicles need to drive. A regular commuter on the route told Urban Acres that the chambers are positioned in the middle of the road, making them impossible to spot when following larger vehicles. For two-wheeler riders, the consequences are immediate and physical. Riders lose balance when tyres dip unexpectedly into sunken chambers. A local resident who travels the route daily said the risk is particularly acute for pregnant women and elderly passengers, who can suffer falls even at low speeds. The constant jarring also damages vehicle suspension systems, adding maintenance costs for households already squeezed by inflation.
Public transport is not spared. PMPML buses frequently use the narrow service road, and drivers report that bus chassis are getting damaged on the protruding chamber edges. School buses carrying young children navigate the same hazardous stretch each morning and evening. A commuter who has observed the route closely warned that a serious accident is a matter of when, not if. The congestion problem has worsened alongside the safety crisis. With only one lane effectively usable on the Nigdi-Akurdi-Chinchwad corridor, peak-hour traffic snarls are now routine. Workers report being late to jobs regularly because vehicles must crawl around chamber holes. The metro construction, while necessary for the city’s long-term transit future, has left surface infrastructure in a state of neglect.
Urban infrastructure analysts point out that the issue is not technical but procedural. Pune city, during the Grand Tour cycling event, demonstrated that chambers can be levelled flush with road surfaces. The fact that the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation has not replicated that basic standard on a high-traffic service road suggests a failure of maintenance protocols, not of engineering capability. For residents, the demand is simple: level the chambers, fill the potholes, and make the road safe before someone is seriously hurt. The metro will eventually transform mobility in this corridor. But until then, basic road safety cannot be held hostage to long-term construction timelines.
Pimpri Chinchwad Road Hazard Worsens Metro Chaos
