Pune Kalas Dhanori Lohegaon Roads Need Urgent Fixes
Pune’s Kalas, Dhanori and Lohegaon are facing a growing mobility problem as incomplete development-plan road links, damaged surfaces and rising traffic combine to slow movement across the northern parts of the city. A civic inspection has now put urgent repairs and pending asphalting on the agenda, highlighting how gaps in basic road infrastructure can quickly become a wider urban access issue.
The inspection covered major and internal roads across the three neighbourhoods following complaints from residents. Civic representatives and local residents flagged stretches where potholes and unfinished connections are adding to daily travel difficulties. For residents, the problem extends beyond the condition of individual roads. Several planned links remain incomplete, forcing traffic onto a limited network of existing streets. This can increase congestion at junctions and place additional pressure on roads that were not designed to carry current traffic volumes. The Pune Municipal Corporation has been asked to prioritise repairs on damaged stretches and accelerate pending asphalt work. Officials have also been directed to examine ways of improving traffic circulation while addressing immediate safety concerns.
The situation illustrates a recurring challenge in Pune’s fast-growing peripheral neighbourhoods. Residential development can expand faster than the supporting road network, leaving new communities dependent on a few established routes. Where planned connections are delayed, even relatively short missing stretches can have an outsized impact on travel times. Urban planners say road quality also has a direct bearing on how safely people move through neighbourhoods. Potholes, uneven surfaces and poorly connected streets can create particular difficulties for pedestrians, cyclists, two-wheeler users, older residents and people with mobility limitations. Better road planning therefore requires more than periodic resurfacing; it also requires completing strategic links and improving conditions for different forms of travel. There is also a financial dimension. Repeated repairs on heavily used roads can place pressure on municipal maintenance budgets without resolving the underlying capacity problem. Completing missing connections may offer a more durable solution where traffic is being funnelled through a small number of corridors.
At the same time, road expansion in rapidly developing areas needs to be coordinated with drainage, pedestrian infrastructure, public transport and land-use planning. Simply adding carriageway capacity without these elements can shift congestion rather than remove it. For Kalas, Dhanori and Lohegaon, the immediate priority is to restore damaged roads and complete pending works. The longer-term test will be whether Pune can align road construction with the pace of development, creating a connected network that is safer, more resilient and usable by residents beyond private vehicles.
