[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by Sinner666

In fact, this was the only stretch where I encountered rash/indisciplined drivers cutting across lanes, and overtaking from the left.

This is due to the heavy vehicles going extreme right to manoevour the curve which makes the left lanes free to overtake. Its the survival of the fittest kind of race which happens on the incline with some losing the steam and the race to the faster ones. I have seen many a trucks and other vehicle drivers go to the extreme right at the start of the curve and suddenly swerve to the left to come back on track to show as if they are folowing the lane discipline.

[kvats23]

Heard there were a tanker that overturned on the expressway towards Mumbai end, near Khopoli yesterday. I just came to Mumbai today from Pune via expressway and there is no problem at all. The authorities have cleared up the tanker and spillage that occurred. Road is fine now, traffic moving smoothly. There was no oil on the road; it has been cleared. Just thought I would update for fellow BHPians taking expressway these days. The ghats were in good shape for monsoon season.

[RishiSuri]

Hi,
i did a day trip to Pune last week and the roads were smooth. the only bottle necks you will find while going towards Pune will be the famous toll ( it had a 1Km backlog of vehicles). and the 2nd one being the exit to Lonavala. The rest of stretch is smooth.
What shocked me was to see Auto rickshaw and bikes post the Toll going towards lonavala.
I am not sure if this has been opened for locals to use.
More shocking was to see some rowdy drivers driving wrong side of expressway to reach lonavala faster. I mean are you ready to risk your lives for few moments of fun??

[arnabchak]

Originally Posted by kvats23

Heard there were a tanker that overturned on the expressway towards Mumbai end, near Khopoli yesterday. I just came to Mumbai today from Pune via expressway and there is no problem at all. The authorities have cleared up the tanker and spillage that occurred. Road is fine now, traffic moving smoothly. There was no oil on the road; it has been cleared. Just thought I would update for fellow BHPians taking expressway these days. The ghats were in good shape for monsoon season.

Hi

A tanker had indeed turtled and the authorities had to divert traffic to the old NH4 for over 10 hours till they cleared the mess.

Good you did not encounter the traffic as if you had, it would have been a difficult time and the fun of driving on the EW would have simply vanished

[deoelect]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/40311692.cms

I witnessed it!! Was driving to Mumbai to attend a marriage when I saw the traffic on the other side of the road. It was scary. We were worried that we'll be stuck while returning but fortunately the jam before the Khalapur toll had eased out. Still lost around an hour in the jam near the Lonavla exit. Very irritating

[Hayek]

Originally Posted by deoelect

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/40311692.cms



I witnessed it

My wife and kid were stuck in the jam and took 8 hours to reach their hotel near Aamby. I really feel nutcases set our toll rates. Why should the toll for cars be INR 117? High time all tolls are in multiples of INR10. Also, it's high time strong incentives for electronic toll collection are put in place - perhaps a 15% discount + infinite validity of smart cards + strict enforcement of priority lanes (say a INR 1000 fine for cash access to an electronic lane). Though that won't solve the ghat problem, which is mainly due to slow trucks trying to overtake each other - high time MINIMUM speed limits are set on highways - say 60 kmph, and massive fines are levied in trucks entering the right lane.

[deoelect]

Originally Posted by Hayek

My wife and kid were stuck in the jam and took 8 hours to reach their hotel near Aamby.

Oh dear! They went through a nightmare I was stuck for an hour and was really pissed off by the time it eased out. Agree with the pricing strategy. The toll rates should be convenient for both the parties to operate. Heard that they exempted a lot of LMVs that day and let them pass without collecting the toll. People bathing and 'sightseeing' on the leftmost lane(reserved for heavy vehicles) really made it worse.
I could also see a lot of vehicles standing by the roadside with their bonnets open. They overheated maybe. Was a bit scared then as didn't want my car to be stalled in the middle of a jam. I was considering the old highway while returning but guess the situation wasn't very different there too.

[sukhoi30]

Originally Posted by Hayek

My wife and kid were stuck in the jam and took 8 hours to reach their hotel near Aamby. I really feel nutcases set our toll rates. Why should the toll for cars be INR 117? High time all tolls are in multiples of INR10. Also, it's high time strong incentives for electronic toll collection are put in place - perhaps a 15% discount + infinite validity of smart cards + strict enforcement of priority lanes (say a INR 1000 fine for cash access to an electronic lane). Though that won't solve the ghat problem, which is mainly due to slow trucks trying to overtake each other - high time MINIMUM speed limits are set on highways - say 60 kmph, and massive fines are levied in trucks entering the right lane.

It must have been horrible especially for families with young kids. One major reason traffic piles up at the toll is because of the slow toll collection. On occasions when there is an extended holiday, there are a lot of first time drivers who do not know the toll rates and upon reaching the booth, they start looking for change.
Immediately after the toll there are public toilets where most trucks and cars halt occupying the left two lanes. Vehicles exiting the toll further slow down as they have to move onto the right most lane which becomes a bottleneck.
People stopping their cars in the ghat section for picnics is another dangerous trend. Patrolling police should fine such vehicles.

[tiger_stripes]

Originally Posted by sukhoi30

On occasions when there is an extended holiday, there are a lot of first time drivers who do not know the toll rates and upon reaching the booth, they start looking for change.

This is made worse by the signage at the toll booths. The toll rates are written in small letters needing a telescope to view from far. Displaying them prominently above the booth will help people keep the fare ready. This observation is not specific to the Mumbai Pune expressway but commonly seen at most toll booths.