Even though the city has witnessed a spree of development projects being announced in recent past, delay in their completion past the deadline has emerged as a pattern for majority of them. Another such example has now emerged as the Y-bridge project connecting Kadbi Chowk with Pahalwanshah Dargah and Mominpura is now expected to be completed by March 2027 instead of original deadline of December 2025. The project, being executed by The Maharashtra Rail Infrastructure Development Corporation (MRIDC), has faced multiple delays since work began nearly five years ago. The 2.82-km Y-shaped flyover was conceived to ease traffic congestion between Kadbi Chowk, Mominpura and Santra Market, one of the city’s busiest transport corridors.

 

This route saves a lot of time for people intending to travel between Cotton Market and North Nagpur. However, a combination of encroachments, land acquisition disputes, utility shifting works and local opposition slowed construction repeatedly, preventing the project from meeting earlier deadlines. According to MRIDC officials, nearly 70 per cent of the overall work has now been completed. Foundation and substructure activities have been finished, while about half of the superstructure work, including girder launching, is in place. Road concretisation beneath the flyover has also commenced in several stretches. Despite the visible progress, commuters say the prolonged construction period has tested their patience.

 

“We have been hearing completion dates for years, but the project still seems far from ready. Every day there are traffic bottlenecks near the railway crossing and during peak hours the journey becomes extremely frustrating,” said Rajesh Sharma, a resident of Mominpura who travels through the stretch regularly. Another commuter, Sameer Khan, said the delays have affected daily travel plans. “The flyover was supposed to make commuting easier, but people have instead spent years dealing with diversions, dust and congestion. We only hope this latest deadline is actually achieved,” he said. The project’s bhoomipujan was performed in July 2021, and MRIDC had initially aimed to complete the flyover by December 2025.

 

However, repeated interruptions forced the agency to revise the deadline several times. Officials said most of the major obstacles have now been resolved. Encroachments along the alignment have been removed, land-related disputes settled and permissions for tree cutting obtained. Shifting of power cables and water pipelines, particularly in the densely populated Mominpura area, has also been largely completed. Once operational, the flyover will begin at Kadbi Chowk and extend up to the Pahalwan Shah Dargah T-point, where it will split into two arms. One arm will head towards Mominpura, while the other will connect Santra Market side of Nagpur railway station. While MRIDC officials remain confident of meeting the March 2027 target, commuters remain cautiously hopeful. For many residents, the project has become a symbol of how infrastructure delays can prolong public inconvenience, even when the finish line finally appears to be within sight.