[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by Desmosedici

Aarey Road has been relayered at many spots. Much better at the moment. Waiting for the first couple of rains to see whether it gets washed away as usual.

Hello Desmosedici,

Thank you for the update. On your information, I travelled through Aarey road yesterday evening & yes the road is in much better shape now.

But the road from Marol Check post to Picnic Point garden is still uneven, Hope the authorities are going to re-lay tar on this stretch also.

As mentioned by you, I believe by mid-July the road will be full of huge potholes & traffic jams will be a daily routine. Till then let us enjoy driving on traffic-free Aarey road.

Thanks,

[PPS]

Home to Office today- a princely 3hrs 20mins! I think its some sort of a record for me. This is just the start , its going to get worse as the season progresses.
For those of you on twitter, you can follow twitter.com/TrafflineMUM for all the important updates on the traffic situation.

[Maverick1977]

In all the confusion on our roads today morning, it was quite a site to see a cop at Flood Hit Mahim area standing in a pool of water trying to direct traffic. Also at the junction where there was no water there were a bunch of cops standing and doing the usual - NOTHING!

What ever said and done this cop does deserve some appreciation.

[Dieseltuned]

Noticed a similar thing on the JVLR today morning near Milind Nagar Signal. the JVLR is a big mess here and the traffic cops were diverting vehicles from the logged water..kudos to them .....Good job guys

By the way the patch work done on WEH near Saidham has already started coming off, just under 2 days of rain fall, speaks volumes of the quality of work.

[Jignesh]

Hello All,

Jogeshwari Vikroli Link Road is jammed packed right from JVLR Junction on Western Express Highway till start of L & T Fly-over.
Reason for this massive traffic built-up - a small stretch of road just before start of L & T Flyovver is in bad shape & motorists have to slow down to dead slow speeds to cross this section.

Further the make-up done (re-laying of upper layer of road) on Western Express Highway has started to peel-off with just 3 days of heavy rains. It seems roads have already started deteriorating with onset of monsoon, what be the condition of roads in coming months?

Thanks,

[Desmosedici]

While coming from WE Highway to Powai on JVLR, please watchout for a Rectangular Metal Manhole Cover that might come off any day and its in such a condition that your tyres might get cut on it. This is slightly towards the right side on the end of the flyover after Rude Lounge.

[amit]

Any idea when the Eastern Freeway will be open? Just because the politicians have no time, people have to drive through water logged & pot holed streets at snail speeds to get to where they are going! Really makes me wonder if we are a democracy or monarchy where these so called people's representative's move around like super royalty. I have never understood why we need a politician to cut a silly ribbon and give a sillier speech to their own chamcha's to open infrastructure projects. If a road is ready, just open it and let people use it. Why can't things be simple?

[nileshch]

Originally Posted by amit

Any idea when the Eastern Freeway will be open? Just because the politicians have no time, people have to drive through water logged & pot holed streets at snail speeds to get to where they are going! Really makes me wonder if we are a democracy or monarchy where these so called people's representative's move around like super royalty. I have never understood why we need a politician to cut a silly ribbon and give a sillier speech to their own chamcha's to open infrastructure projects. If a road is ready, just open it and let people use it. Why can't things be simple?

It seems it is opening tomorrow --

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...cle4804287.ece

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by amit

Any idea when the Eastern Freeway will be open? Just because the politicians have no time,

Hello Amit,

Finally the day has come - tomorrow, Thursday 13th June 2013 at 3 pm -Eastern Freeway opens to general public.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/20546687.cms

Along with Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, Minister of State for Communication and IT Milind Deora, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, City's Guardian Minister Jayant Patil, Suburban Guardian Minister Naseem Khan, and Mayor Sunil Prabhu will open the Eastern Freeway.

The road offers a signal free 14 km drive between Chembur & CST. It also boasts of a 550 meter long tunnel, first of its kind in Indian cities.

Thanks,

[SDP]

Originally Posted by amit

Any idea when the Eastern Freeway will be open? ...

Amit, when I read this post, I was like - "Estern Freeway .. what's that? Did he mean Easter Express Highway? Is there a problem on EE highway.. some big accident because of which it is closed?".

Then realized that you are talking about a new road. Googled, got the details. I was at Sewree 6 months back and saw that construction and assumed it to be part of the metro project. Felt stupid for being so ignorant.

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by SDP

Then realized that you are talking about a new road. Googled, got the details. Felt stupid for being so ignorant.

Hello SDP,

Eastern Freeway is an achievement for Mumbai, literally speaking. The construction started in 2008 & here we are today - 14 kms signal-free freeway ready to use from tomorrow (balance 2.8 kms will be opened in another couple of months). Though initially it was scheduled to be completed by January 2011, it was delayed by 2.5 years due to delay in getting permissions for construction in forest & saltpan land. Still going by the past records, completion of this project in 5.5 years is nothing short of an achievement.

Some of the outstanding points of this freeway are:
1. At 9.29 kms the fly-over between Orange Gate on P D'Mello Road & Mahul creek salt pan (between Anik and Chembur) is the longest flyover in Mumbai and second longest flyover in India.
2. First tunnel in city limits in India - It consists of twin tunnels approx 550 meters under BARC Area.
3. The Freeway is the ONLY second project in Mumbai to have seismic arresters. The first was Bandra–Worli Sea Link. Seismic arresters will enable the freeway to withstand earthquakes measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale.

More details of this Freeway available here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Freeway_(Mumbai)

Thanks,

[gomzi]

Originally Posted by Jignesh

Eastern Freeway is an achievement for Mumbai, literally speaking. The construction started in 2008 & here we are today - 14 kms signal-free freeway ready to use from tomorrow (balance 2.8 kms will be opened in another couple of months). Though initially it was scheduled to be completed by January 2011, it was delayed by 2.5 years due to delay in getting permissions for construction in forest & saltpan land. Still going by the past records, completion of this project in 5.5 years is nothing short of an achievement.

Not to be a dampener on the enthusiasm of the Eastern Freeway opening or the achievements during its construction which are firsts for India, but the entire freeway and traffic planning does not seem to have been properly thought out.

I read in HT couple of days back that there are huge bottlenecks on the P D'Mello road end, starting from the exit ramp which is blocked by few structures and further on at the entry/exit point for trucks at the port.

Anyway, once its open we'll come to know for sure. Opening the freeway during monsoon season is akin to learning swimming by directly jumping into the deep end. I know its a cynical view but I'd love to be proved wrong.

[ghodlur]

With eastern freeway being thrown open for public use and that it will save time and fuel is one thing but what troubles me is that the entire stretch of 14 kms is without signal which invites for some rash driving and lane cutting. What would be the speeds inside the tunnels? I hope the authorities have the utility services in place in case of any emergency (esp inside the tunnels and outside too).

The traffic buildup below the Gandhinagar flyover near Kanjurmarg when vehicles from LBS move towards Powai is geeting out of hand day by day. The two lane road becomes a one lane due to the paverblocks coming off and huge gap between the concrete road the paverblocked road. With atleast one vehicle getting stuck everyday the traffic buildup will continue uless the authories repair the road ASAP.

Another hurdle is the small patch in front of the Ramakrishna hotel opp ITT Powai where the road has been thrown open for traffic but the rains have caused a huge pothole right in the middle of the paveblock road. Saw today a biker plung in the pothole, miss his balance and fell on the road. Luckily he fell on the opp side of the vehicle movement or otherwise would have definitlely come under a heavy vehicle.

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

huge pothole right in the middle of the paveblock road. Saw today a biker plung in the pothole, miss his balance and fell on the road.

Hello Ghodlur,

Being a biker myself, this is exactly what I fear the most.

At most places the gap between concrete road & paver block is two to three inches wide, good enough to throw a motorcycle off balance. Further at many places couple of paver blocks have come off leaving a huge pothole. Now imagine a biker riding at 40 kmph - by no means he will be in a position to judge the missing paver blocks ahead.

Just yesterday I read in a leading newspaper that BMC will suspend officers incharge of the roads & levy huge fines of contractors. But somehow it seems this threats are falling on deaf ears.

What surprises me is that stretches of roads that were bad last year in monsoon are once again in bad shape after just 4 days of rains in Mumbai. Seems the corporation is not willing to learn from its past mistakes.

Thanks,

[SDP]

Did you guys read this?
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/20565353.cms?

Passengers should pay "three times" the normal fare if they want to travel in autorickshaws on waterlogged and pothole-ridden roads during the monsoon, auto union leader SharadRao has demanded.