PUNE: Warje resident Kavita Pawar can expect to reach her workplace in Bavdhan in about half the time she spends on commuting now with the opening of Chandni Chowk flyover on August 12.

"I take about an hour to my office in Bavdhan as the work is still on. The opening of the flyover from the NDA Chowk to Bavdhan will be of great help," Pawar said.

Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari will officially inaugurate the Chandni Chowk project along the Pune-Bengaluru Highway on August 12 in the presence of CM Eknath Sinde and his deputies, NHAI officials confirmed on Tuesday.

"Preparations are underway for the inauguration. This project will surely help thousands of people," Sanjay Kadam, the Pune project director of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), told TOI.

The project has already missed multiple deadlines. "It should have been completed long back. Work picked up speed only after CM's convoy got stuck in a traffic jam near Chandni Chowk in August last year," Bavdhan resident

Sharad Pingle said.

On an average, around 1.6 lakh vehicles cross Chandni Chowk each day. Work on the project had started in October 2019. "People are getting into the habit of violating traffic norms, leading to chaos. The cases of wrong-side driving on the stretch to be dealt with strictly," Pradip Sawant, a resident, said.