The Ranenagar underpass expansion on Nashik’s Mumbai-Agra highway is 90% complete, with the two additional service road lanes expected to open by mid-November after safety testing and traffic police approval, according to National Highways Authority of India officials.
The new lanes are being built over the existing Ranenagar vehicular underpass to separate service-road traffic from vehicles crossing through the underpass or merging from adjoining junction roads. The arrangement is intended to allow motorists travelling between Pathardi Phata and Indiranagar to bypass crossover traffic on the service roads.
NHAI officials said the project has entered its testing phase. The additional lanes will be opened to traffic once the traffic police approve the diversion plan and confirm that vehicles can be safely moved onto the new stretch. The construction work began in June 2025 in response to increasing congestion around the underpass.
The Ranenagar junction has experienced sustained traffic pressure as residential and commercial development expanded along the highway. Vehicles travelling straight on the parallel service roads have frequently been affected by traffic generated by motorists turning through the underpass and by vehicles entering from connecting roads. The additional elevated lanes are designed to remove this conflict by providing a dedicated route for service-road traffic.
The intervention is part of a wider effort to address bottlenecks along the highway corridor in Nashik. NHAI officials said work on an additional tunnel at the nearby Indiranagar vehicular underpass is scheduled to begin by mid-November, after the Ranenagar lanes are opened. The new tunnel is planned next to the existing Indiranagar underpass.
The Indiranagar project has a completion deadline of the end of March 2027. It is intended to streamline traffic arriving from the Govindnagar side and provide additional underpass capacity at a location connected to the same heavily used highway and service-road network.
The immediate milestone for commuters is the opening of the Ranenagar lanes. Before that happens, the completed structure must clear testing and receive approval for the traffic diversion. NHAI officials said the agency will move to the Indiranagar tunnel drilling work after the mid-November launch.
