Pune: At one of its first presentations to the public, using a high-tech piece of software, city traffic police on Tuesday painted a rather grim picture of the state of infrastructure in Pune.The city’s municipal limits, data showed, has grown a whopping 330% in the last 30 years. Its road network now covers only 8%; it should be 15%, and public transport coverage stands at 11% when it should be 50%. Worse, the city is adding 1,300 new vehicles daily with traffic volume on roads now at 81 lakh compared to 52 lakh in 2018.The data, officials said, underscores a growing consensus: Pune’s gridlock is no longer a traffic problem, but a fundamental failure of planning.The software also helped identify 65 junctions in the city where data suggested congestion can only be eased by a flyover or a grade separator. The list included key locations such as Golibar Maidan in Camp and Kharadi.Police officials said a traffic report submitted two years ago to PMC, calling for improvements, was still largely unaddressed by the civic body, with not even 10% of the recommended changes carried out. In that report, police had identified 30 missing road links of which only 18 are either complete or half-finished. Of 47 identified traffic bottlenecks, only 10 were acted upon and out of 90 congested junctions, plans have been readied for only 35, police officials said during Tuesday’s presentation, delivered by additional CP Manoj Patil and attended by MP Murlidhar Mohol and police commissioner Amitesh Kumar. Members of citizens’ groups were also in attendance.The presentation noted that police’s short-term goal was to achieve an average commute speed of 26–30 km/h compared to the current estimated 22.5 km/h. And for that to happen, officials said, planning agencies should on priority finish work on all identified bottlenecks, missing road links and remove encroachments.“On road encroachments, illegal hawkers and potholes, we will follow up with PMC. Additional manpower will also be provided to the traffic branch,” commissioner Kumar said in the meeting.MP Mohol acknowledged that growing geographic area had indeed put pressure on civic facilities. He said Metro is expected to have a 150-km network within the next few years, including a 56km underground line. He also said work on the 36-km HCMTR (High Capacity Mass Transit Route) has been fast-tracked. On public transport, the MP said approvals have been given for 1,000 new ebuses in the city.Among suggestions from the public, Rajendra Bathiya, president of Poona Merchants Chamber said during the meeting that trucks to wholesale markets in Market Yard, Nana Peth and Sadashiv Peth often end up clogging roads.“But we have sought land near the Ring Road to park these trucks, for which merchants are willing to pay rent. Market Yard also faces severe congestion and parking shortages throughout the day. We have demanded a flyover connecting Market Yard to Katraj-Kondhwa Road,” Bathiya said.
