Traffic movement on Pune’s Mumbai-Bengaluru Highway has improved after two new three-lane bridges at Warje and Wakad were opened to vehicles, a development expected to reduce travel time for motorists travelling between Mumbai and Pune.
The bridges have been built by the National Highways Authority of India over the Mutha River at Warje and the Mula River at Wakad. According to information reported by Loksatta and attributed to NHAI project director Sachin Gautam, the new structures are expected to help reduce congestion across the Warje, Baner, Balewadi, Wakad and Bhumkar Chowk stretches.
The Warje bridge is approximately 500 metres long, while the Wakad bridge measures about 175 metres. Both are three-lane structures and have now been opened for traffic. The improved road capacity is expected to provide motorists with relief from queues that had become common during morning and evening peak periods.
The highway corridor between Navale Bridge and Ravet has faced growing congestion as Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad expanded around it. Local traffic generated by the surrounding urban areas has increasingly mixed with long-distance vehicles using the Mumbai-Bengaluru Highway. This has made the corridor serve two different functions: as a regional route for intercity traffic and as a major urban road for daily commuting.
The congestion has also affected adjoining stretches. Vehicle queues extending between eight and 10 kilometres have been reported around the Katraj New Tunnel and Navale Bridge areas during periods of heavy traffic. For commuters, delays on the highway have therefore extended beyond the immediate locations where bottlenecks formed.
The opening of the two bridges is expected to reduce the time spent crossing the Warje and Wakad sections. Gautam said the structures would reduce travel time by around 15 to 20 minutes, while the report said the overall Mumbai-Pune journey could become 30 to 40 minutes shorter as traffic movement improves along the corridor.
The change is expected to benefit motorists using the highway as well as residents and workers travelling through the adjoining parts of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. However, the extent of the improvement will depend on how traffic moves through connected junctions and approaches, including the sections around Navale Bridge, Katraj and Ravet.
The bridges are now operational, and the immediate next step is the integration of the new structures into regular traffic movement along the highway corridor. NHAI’s assessment of traffic conditions across the Warje-to-Wakad and Navale Bridge-to-Ravet stretches will indicate how far the new capacity reduces peak-hour congestion.
