Stretches along University Rd must be made 2-way: Citizens

Pune: Daily commuters have urged authorities to restart two-way traffic on all stretches along University Road after the same was allowed between Range Hills Road and Agriculture College chowks recently. Citizens said many road links — including one between Govt Hatcheries Chowk and Range Hills Road, the road between Sakhar Sankul and Agriculture College Chowk and the stretch between Shivajinagar Metro Station and Shimla Office Chowk, still have one-way traffic movement . “This leads to hardships for travellers and also increases travel time.

Traffic should be allowed on both ways on these stretches,” they said. Diversions continue ahead of the University Chowk towards Sancheti Hospital Chowk because of ongoing Metro works. The barricading along the Metro footings leads to slow movement of vehicles.

The major bottlenecks in the area are the ones ahead of Shimla Office Chowk (towards Sancheti Hospital Chowk) and at the ABIL Chowk (towards University Circle). Arun Gaikwad, who stays in Tanajiwadi area near Sakhar Sankul, said traffic police have not resumed two-way traffic on the aforementioned three stretches. “We take a detour to reach University Road because of restrictions.

All stretches leading to or off University Road must open to vehicular movement by completing works on priority. Local residents also want heavy vehicles, like buses and trucks, to travel only on the main road, instead of smaller ones,” Gaikwad said. Ajay Singh, who often travels in a PMPML bus.