Pune’s underground tunnel plan has moved into the detailed planning stage after the Pune Municipal Corporation approved the appointment of a consultant to prepare a detailed project report for two proposed corridors under the Patal Lok project. The proposed network would connect Bhosari with Undri and Bhugaon with Erandwane, while a further link is planned towards the proposed Purandar international airport.
The larger of the two proposed corridors would run for 23 kilometres between Bhosari and Undri. According to the plan reported by Sakal, the route would connect Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad in a north-south direction. From Undri, the alignment towards Purandar airport would include a combination of elevated and underground sections, with MahaMetro expected to undertake that portion of the work.
The second proposed tunnel would be eight kilometres long, connecting Bhugaon with the D.P. Road area in Erandwane. The tunnel would begin near the Ramnadi inner ring road at Bhugaon, pass through the Dukkarkhind and Karvenagar areas, and end between Rajaram Bridge and Erandwane. It is proposed to connect with the High Capacity Mass Transit Route, or HCMTR, at Erandwane.
The 23-kilometre Bhosari-Undri route is planned with access points at multiple locations. The tunnel would begin at Bhosari and continue towards Sangamwadi, where arrangements are proposed for vehicles to enter and exit the underground section. Additional access is planned from Sangamwadi towards Dhobighat and from the Katraj-Kondhwa Road side near Khadi Machine Chowk.
The proposal follows an earlier concept for an underground route under the Patal Lok project, which was introduced to reduce pressure on roads in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. An initially announced Yerawada-Katraj alignment was later found to be unviable, according to the report. The municipal corporation has also issued an advertisement to assess the feasibility of an underground route between Swargate and Shaniwar Wada.
For the current corridors, the PMC and traffic police studied TomTom origin-destination data, Google traffic information, real-time traffic data, Comprehensive Mobility Plan data and travel patterns. The assessment considered congestion on major routes, gaps in road connectivity and the availability of alternative routes.
The proposed tunnel network is being planned alongside the HCMTR, inner ring road and outer ring road. The municipal corporation’s preliminary report says the routes are intended to form an integrated network with these projects and complement Metro infrastructure. The planning process also involves the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority and traffic police, reflecting the fact that the proposed corridors cross the boundaries of a single civic body.
The approval is for preparing a detailed project report, not for construction. The supplied report does not specify the project cost, construction schedule, land requirements, environmental approvals or final technical design. Those details will depend on the consultant’s assessment and subsequent decisions by the agencies involved.
