[Rajeev1]

Originally Posted by SDP

Eastern Express Highway - The traffic condition is nowhere near the condition it used to be 4-5 years back. Mulund till JVLR start point was a dream stretch where one could drive at 100 every day. Today, irrespective of the time of the day, the vehicle density has increased so much that one can barely touch 80kmph for a few seconds.

Having said that, I would take EE Highway over WE highway any day!
Western Express Highway should be called as just "Western". Its neither "express" nor "highway".

Agree completely. It is high time that we stopped referring to it as "express" highway. The highway was choked. Have never seen the traffic at a standstill for such a long time during the morning hours.

[normally_crazy]

Originally Posted by normally_crazy

The tiling work is on and should be over by tomorrow IMO but looking at the way the work was progressing, a week is more like it.

The cemented lane (3rd lane) at the WEH-JVLR junction was open to traffic today evening. The jams have eased 70% at least. Phew !

The last lane where paver blocks are being laid should be open in 2-3 days.

[Jignesh]

Hello All,

Drivers rejoice. Finally the third lane on JVLR Junction is open to traffic & believe me the traffic jams have just vanished today morning.

The forth lane is also partially open (unoffically by motorists) & will be fully operational in a day or two.

In my opinion, this one development has reduced our travel time by 10 - 15 minutes. I am wondering how much will be the fuel costs savings?

If the authorities learn something from this episode & develop / maintain the roads in Mumbai to best possible levels, I feel a lot of traffic will ease & accidents will reduce to a large extent.

Thanks,

[BertieWoosert]

Indeed, the traffic jam has vanished absolutely today! Took just 6 minutes from Oberoi mall to the WEH/JVLR junction today morning instead of the usual 20-25 minute grind! Cars seemed to be "flying" on the "highway", instead of the usual crawl.

Lets hope this state of affairs continues

[sa_kiran]

Originally Posted by Jignesh

If the authorities learn something from this episode & develop / maintain the roads in Mumbai to best possible levels, I feel a lot of traffic will ease & accidents will reduce to a large extent.

Bad roads and bottlenecks are the worst culprits of traffic build-ups and jams. I live in Thane and drive to Powai everyday. The first bottleneck I encounter is at the railway over-bridge on EEH in Thane. Sometimes, the build-up extends up to the previous flyover! The second one is little before the toll booth. There is a covered portion of road a little before the booth, which has been closed for traffic for many months. I wasted over 10 minutes in these two bottlenecks this morning. This is significant considering the total travel time of 45 minutes, including the usual madness of Gandhi Nagar and Powai.

[engrohit]

Originally Posted by sa_kiran

including the usual madness of Gandhi Nagar and Powai.

I do the same grind mate, while criticising the current affair, let's also not forget to be thankful for the Gandhi nagar flyover. It has eased the daily grind considerably. However it took ages to complete, though!

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by BertieWoosert

Cars seemed to be "flying" on the "highway", instead of the usual crawl.

Hello BertieWoosert,

Yes. Passing through JVLR Junction was great today. Let us hope we can 'fly' like this everyday. Let us also hope that soon Western Express Highway comes at par with its eastern counterpart in terms of traffic & maintenance.

Originally Posted by sa_kiran

Bad roads and bottlenecks are the worst culprits of traffic build-ups and jams.

Originally Posted by engrohit

I do the same grind mate, while criticising the current affair,

Hello sa-kiran & enghohit,

Good Roads in Mumbai will not only ease the Traffic scenario but it will mean huge savings of fuel costs & lesser pollution & heat.

But most important good rads will reduve accidents & road rages to a large extent. I live near a busy junction in Malad & all my life I have heard motorists honking wildly out of frustration. It is this frustration that causes minor accidents & petty fights on roads. If roads are good & traffic is disciplined, such incidents will reduce to a large extent.

Thanks,

[BertieWoosert]

Originally Posted by Jignesh

Hello BertieWoosert,

Yes. Passing through JVLR Junction was great today. Let us hope we can 'fly' like this everyday. Let us also hope that soon Western Express Highway comes at par with its eastern counterpart in terms of traffic & maintenance.

Guess thats too much to hope for! But hope springs eternal

I am already worred about the mess when the new flyover coming from west and ending before the Jogeshwari flyover will become operational, and vehicles coming from there will want to take the Jogeshwari flyover, criss-crossing the vehicles coming from WEH that want to go towards the JVLR junction. I wonder if they plan to install signals there, or maybe force the WEH traffic going towards JVLR to take the service road earlier (near Hub), although I think the new flyover comes down on the extreme left, so not sure if that is possible (Maybe just below the flyover end, and on to the extreme left, if there is space there). The other option of not allowing the new flyover traffic to take the Jogeshwari flyover will simply mean additional strain on WEH/JVLR junction?

[Desmosedici]

Patchwork done in some parts of Aarey over the weekend. However the funny thing is that after the area where the patchwork is done, within 200 metres there are again a few good sized craters but these have not been attended to.

[Maverick1977]

Traffic on the Highway was pretty smooth till I came close to Vakola flyover. For some strange reasons this flyover is always full of traffic & today the culprit was a Honda City which had met with an accident. The cops had arrived and they were trying to get the car towed away.

I can attribute traffic jams on the WE highway to the following:
1. Break down of heavy vehicles on flyovers, for some strange reasons they will either break down in the middle or towards the descent. I have seen trucks stranded just 50 meters from the end of the flyover. Stranger that they do not roll the vehicle down and prevent the crazy jam.
2. Accident on the flyover, like of the Honda City today.
3. Heavy vehicle caught & stopped by the cop on the flyover. Yes it may sound strange but I have been a witness to this.
4. Irresponsible driving is commonly seen at major flyovers like Andheri where-in people drive on the extreme right and then suddenly decide to dive to the left. Super Irritating!
5. Signals, believe it or not, are a super culprit especially at Kala Nagar junction. Main highway signal starts but then the traffic from the perpendicular roads would not have cleared.
The most illogical signal is just at the end of Kala Nagar flyover whilst going North. You build a flyover so that traffic moves fast & then you put a signal at the end of it to make vehicles stop so that cars below the flyover move faster. God I hate that signal.
6. Cops try and control traffic on their whims and fancies, even if the signals are working. I have once seen the cop accommodating a dumper truck to pass by stopping the main highway traffic.
7. Naka Bandi - ON THE HIGHWAY - What better way to destroy the perfect flow of traffic then put some barriers and create artificial bottle necks. This seems to be a feature for every weekends. Sunday afternoon for traffic going South @Airport and just after Kherwadi signal in the night for traffic going North. Even more Irritating because the cops dont seem to be even bothered at the vehicles. Just seems to be a diary entry requirement.

Please add more to the above list, am sure others would have experienced more than what I have.

[BertieWoosert]

Very well summarized Maverick1977. Especially, the breakdowns and the nakabandi are real killers.

A few other reasons that i have seen:

• Heavy vehicles (trucks/trailers) driving in peak traffic in the fast lane, slowing down all vehicles behind, especially when climbing a flyover. I wonder if they could ban heavy vehicles going south in the morning, and north in the evening.
• Slow-moving tempos/good carriers (three wheelers) are another nuisance, as they simply have no power to keep up the highway pace, but insist on driving in the middle/fast lanes
• People trying to cross the highway! Unbelievable as it may sound, I see many people trying to cross near the Goregaon Exhibition Ground, especially when they have some exhibition going on. This could be easily curbed by putting high dividers at such spots.
• Broken roads. Although this is not specifc to the highway, this really slows down the traffic. Examples include pretty much all junctions, along with even some flyovers such as the north-bound Aarey flyover.
• Cars and rickshaws with single occupants. This is probably a sensitive topic (if one can afford, why not?), and I am not even sure if something can be done about it, given the volume, but it really is extremely inefficient. I wonder if not allowing these vehicles on some flyovers is a solution. (Or collect a hefty enough monthly fee and allow). It would of course be difficult to implement given the heavy flow, but a beginning could be made.
• Traffic Volume. The traffic is just so heavy, and the system so fragile that even a minor break-down has the potential to slow down the entire highway. This is compounded by the above point (single occupant vehicles). Perhaps another drastic solution could be to allow even/odd number cars (maybe only those with 1 or 2 occupants) on alternate days. This will probably encourage at least slightly more car-pooling. Again, you could always collect a hefty fee to allow plying every day.
• Lack of adequate public transport: Again this is probably cliched, but if there were comfortable options priced at various points, it could bring down the car/auto volume. Another option could be to start share autos going on the flyovers. For example, if one had to go to Kandivli West from domestic airport, one could take a share auto from Parle East to Kandivli East, and then another auto to the west. That might bring down the number of autos on the road.

I hope I don't sound completey anti-cars (drive one myself), but I really think that in the long-term the only solution is to reduce the vehicle count.

One tip for reading through such a long post:
Stick to the left or the second-from-left lanes while navigating between JVLR and Oberoi. Somehow, these seem to move the fastest, and the so-called right-fast lanes are just stuck

[sa_kiran]

Originally Posted by BertieWoosert

Stick to the left or the second-from-left lanes while navigating between JVLR and Oberoi. Somehow, these seem to move the fastest, and the so-called right-fast lanes are just stuck

This is applicable to a majority of roads in Mumbai. One of the reasons, I feel is the right turn. Also, idiots who drive at 40 kmph in a 70 kmph traffic (EEH) stick to right most lanes.

[BertieWoosert]

Originally Posted by sa_kiran

This is applicable to a majority of roads in Mumbai. One of the reasons, I feel is the right turn. Also, idiots who drive at 40 kmph in a 70 kmph traffic (EEH) stick to right most lanes.

Indeed - another of my pet ideas is to block all right turns, and only allow U-turns at junctions. I have seen this being implemented at a few places by the Police, and the results are phenomenal!

It may mean a bit of additional travel for some folks, but the overall savings in time/fuel should be much larger.

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by Maverick1977

Please add more to the above list, am sure others would have experienced more than what I have.

Originally Posted by BertieWoosert

A few other reasons that i have seen:

Hello Maverick1977 & BertieWoosert,

Well summarised list of traffic causes in Mumbai, especially on highways.
On Western Express Highway I have noted few things:
1. The fly-overs generally can handle two / three lanes of traffic each side, which the road approaching fly-overs is atleast 5 lanes wide. This leads to huge traffic pile-up before fly-overs.
2. Another reason I is see people not following traffic rules before changing lanes. But this is one thing we have to live with in India.
3. One more reason is quality of roads. Someone travelling from Borivali will acknowledge that just because a 30 meter stretch of road is bad near Thakur village there is a build up of more than 200 meters of slow moving traffic coming from Borivali in mornings. Come July (monsoons) & pot holes will emerge from nowhere.

Thanks,

[Maverick1977]

Originally Posted by BertieWoosert

Very well summarized Maverick1977. Especially, the breakdowns and the nakabandi are real killers.

A few other reasons that i have seen:

• Heavy vehicles (trucks/trailers) driving in peak traffic in the fast lane, slowing down all vehicles behind, especially when climbing a flyover. I wonder if they could ban heavy vehicles going south in the morning, and north in the evening.
• Slow-moving tempos/good carriers (three wheelers) are another nuisance, as they simply have no power to keep up the highway pace, but insist on driving in the middle/fast lanes
• People trying to cross the highway! Unbelievable as it may sound, I see many people trying to cross near the Goregaon Exhibition Ground, especially when they have some exhibition going on. This could be easily curbed by putting high dividers at such spots.

Believe it or not, AC buses are also the biggest problems on the highway especially since most of them are old and in fantastically pathetic conditions. They just don't have the power to climb flyovers. I have personally seen this happening since I had to leave driving for a few months due to my medical condition.

You will be surprised to know that there are boards just before the beginning of flyovers which clearly mentions that Heavy Vehicles & Autos not allowed, but honestly who cares, not even the cops, UNLESS if there's VIP moment then suddenly all heavy vehicles get pushed below. Sad that the common man suffers!