Pune and its traffic is a combination that never goes out of discussion. While Pune traffic makes news every day and Punekars take to social media to raise issues, Pune has ranked as the world's fourth slowest city for traffic, with an average travel time of 33.22 minutes for 10 kilometers in TomTom's 14th edition of its TomTom Traffic Index. While the city ranks 128th in world rank in congestion.
And when it comes to traffic, you cannot miss two arterial roads in the city: Jangli Maharaj Road (JM Road) and Fergusson College Road (FC Road). For the unversed, both these roads, at the center of the city, are one-way as per the notification of Pune Traffic Police. In 2010, the traffic control branch of Pune Police passed a final order on the JM Road and FC Road one-way traffic scheme. The plan to allow only one-way traffic on JM Road and FC Road was proposed by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Manoj Patil in February 2009.
It was followed by protests from local residents and shop owners.
Do You Know Why JM And FC Roads Are One-Way?
At present, the stretch between SG Barve Chowk and Natraj Chowk on Jangli Maharaj Road has been permanently converted to a one-way. Vehicles will no longer be allowed to make a right turn from SG Barve Chowk to Modern College. Similarly, the stretch between Good Luck Chowk and Dnyaneshwar Paduka Chowk on FC Road is now permanently one-way. Additionally, vehicles are not permitted to make a right turn from Sant Tukaram Maharaj Paduka Chowk on FC Road to Ghole Road. This change was first experimented with in 2009.
Now, explaining the reason behind the order, Manoj Patil, speaking with a YouTube channel, said that when a road is made one-way, the carrying capacity of that road increases by 1.6 times. He also said that when right turns are off, stopping and speed get managed, and thus the carrying capacity increases scientifically.
He also added that even if the right turn is closed, the efficiency of the road increases by 10-15 percent. He further mentioned that a simple closure of U-turns and putting up a divider can also increase the carrying capacity of the road.
