[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by Desmosedici

TOI page 8. Biker dies at Malad East due to a big pothole. Bikers, please be careful while riding.

Hello Desmosedici,

Thank you for the information & advice. I too ride my bike most of the times (reason for choosing bike over car - convenience factor & heavy traffic) & I will be even more careful now onwards.

Further details of the accident:
This happed somewhere on Times of India fly-over on Western Express Highway at Malad East. The victim - Umesh Shinde's (28 years) bike - Suzuki Access got sruck in 2 feet wide pothole & he suffered a hard fall. He was wearing a helmet & there were no injuries on his head / face. But by the time he was taken to hospital he was dead.

Here comes the biggest irony - he got married less than 2 months back on 8th May 2013. Lives & dreams shattered. Period.

Thanks,

[sa_kiran]

Originally Posted by PPS

^^ BMC is more concerned about SRK's surrogate baby, they are least bothered about filling up potholes !

Don't trivialize. They are also concerned about lingerie on mannequins, fighting for spoils of Mahalakshmi Race Course, etc.

[BertieWoosert]

Originally Posted by EagleEye

1) Historical Data: Average traffic at a particular point at a particular time of day and day of week recorded over several months using satellite imagery.
2) Real-time Data: This is using crowd-sourcing - your phone, along with anyone else's that uses GMaps in that area transmits the average speed you're traveling at to the Google servers.

EagleEye - thanks for the detailed explanation - the discrepancy that I noticed now makes sense.

While I can think of the benefits of using the historical data in some situations, I am not sure it is very useful for regular commuters. Someone who travels on the same stretch every day, at approximately the same time (typical office commuter) would already know what is the normal traffic, and so simply showing that does not add much value. Perhaps its still useful when one is going to a new area, or as I pointed earlier, to identify extreme traffic cases. Otherwise, it would be useful to have an option to show the traffic only based on real-time data.

[EagleEye]

Originally Posted by BertieWoosert

EagleEye - thanks for the detailed explanation - the discrepancy that I noticed now makes sense.

While I can think of the benefits of using the historical data in some situations, I am not sure it is very useful for regular commuters. Someone who travels on the same stretch every day, at approximately the same time (typical office commuter) would already know what is the normal traffic, and so simply showing that does not add much value. Perhaps its still useful when one is going to a new area, or as I pointed earlier, to identify extreme traffic cases. Otherwise, it would be useful to have an option to show the traffic only based on real-time data.

This is getting slightly OT, but this feature from Google is, I believe, one of the most useful and most underrated facilities available to us. Also I feel that not many people know about it.

For example sitting here in Mumbai I can plan my (hypothetical) trip in Bangalore. Suppose I want to get to the airport from, say, Indira Nagar at 3 pm on a Tuesday, I just have to feed that into GMaps, and it will give me an estimated travel duration. So I can plan my entire day around that.



Even within Mumbai nobody would be well versed with the traffic situations on all roads at all times, so this can come in handy to plan trips.

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by BertieWoosert

While I can think of the benefits of using the historical data in some situations

Originally Posted by EagleEye

This is getting slightly OT, but this feature from Google is, I believe, one of the most useful and most underrated facilities available to us. Also I feel that not many people know about it.

Hello BertieWoosert & EagleEye,

Yes. Historical traffic information is one of the most useful facility from Google Maps. It helps us in planning acheduled / future trips say home to airport in our city or from airport to office in another city.

I use Google maps almost everyday & accordingly leave from office in evenings. There is no point getting struck in traffic rather it is better to remain in office for 30 / 45 minutes & leave a little late when traffic situation eases.

Infact there is a thread on T-BHP demonstrating these features of Google maps:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...ogle-maps.html

Thanks,

[BertieWoosert]

Originally Posted by EagleEye

Even within Mumbai nobody would be well versed with the traffic situations on all roads at all times, so this can come in handy to plan trips.

Originally Posted by Jignesh

Hello BertieWoosert & EagleEye,

Yes. Historical traffic information is one of the most useful facility from Google Maps. It helps us in planning acheduled / future trips say home to airport in our city or from airport to office in another city.

EagleEye and Jignesh - I am absolutely not undermining the utility of this - its a great boon for commuters. All I meant was that a regular commuter is more interested in the specific deviation for the day (unknown) rather than the historcial mean (known). But I fully agree about the utility and myseful use it quite extensively during my travels.

Anyway, lets get back this thread to the Mumbai traffic topic. Speaking of which, just the last Friday I posted that traffic seems to be usually high on the Oberoi-JVLR stretch on Fridays, and well - today there was no traffic on the same stretch

[Dieseltuned]

some good news guys, the potholed area at Milind nagar is undergoing repairs. Paaver blocks are lined up,so i suppose we might get a paver block fix over these area.

Something is better than nothing! isn't it guys

[arup.misra]

Does anyone use the Vakola flyover regularly? Before the onset of rains our good-for-nothing municipal corporation decided to relay a portion on the north bound carriageway. Bad-timing or deliberate, that whole exercise has turned out to be a nightmare. A good 300m of road has been washed away leaving behind moon rocks.

Despite the brief period of little to no rain, no work has been done to correct this. Regular users would know the extent of traffic backlog this creates. I spend atleast 20min everyday to pass this stretch and that too in early evening traffic. In peak hours this I'm sure is a nightmare...but then where in Mumbai it isn't a nightmare...

Sorry for the rant, couldn't help.

[Jignesh]

Hello All,

It give me immense pleasure to announce that the famous Milind nagar (on JVLR) pot holes are matter of history now & the entire stretch is re-laid with paver blocks.

I happened to pass though JVLR yesterday & the paver block laying work was almost complete. This one event will bring relief to all the people passing through JVLR, because since last 20 days, they used to take 30 minutes to cross 1.3 kms from SEEPZ to start of L & T Fly-over.

Let us all hope that the work done is of good quality & the paver blocks do not come off during heavy rains.

Thanks,

[Dieseltuned]

Hi Jignesh,

You will be pleased to know that the paver blocks are still there, but there are a new set of potholes just next to the paver blocks which are still slowing traffic a bit.

Regards
Dieseltuned

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by Jignesh

Let us all hope that the work done is of good quality & the paver blocks do not come off during heavy rains.

Fingers crossed. I hope that the authorities dont do a rush job and lay the paver blocks (atleast) evenly so that there are no bumps between the paver block and original road level.

I have seen in Thane traffic cops rushing the sand bags with gravel to fill up the potholes, dont know how long will it last. The typical case of poor quality work can be seen on the small flyover at the Kapurbavdi circle at the start of the Ghodbunder Road. In May, the road looked glistening of the freshly laid tar road. In June it was a mess with the tar & the material below it coming loose creating some big craters. A perfect receipe for the traffic jams as vehicle move at snail's pace, but now the start of the flyover has been relaid with paver blocks which still continues to be a major hazard with many of them already coming off.

Even God doesnt have an idea when the quality of the roads will improve.

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

In May, the road looked glistening of the freshly laid tar road. In June it was a mess with the tar & the material below it coming loose creating some big craters. Even God doesnt have an idea when the quality of the roads will improve.

Hello Ghodlur,

Surprising to see that newly laid roads (upper layer) are washed away within one month of heavy rains. Now, I have heard that it rains almost everyday in Singapore, but the tar roads there are absolutely pot holes free. Wonder what are the materials they use to build roads?

You will also be surprised to know that most of these fly-overs are under 5 year defect free liability period. The contractor is therefore liable to repair the road under the warranty period & also compensate the victims of accidents that may happen because of bad roads. But I do not think that authorities are in any mood to evoke this liability clause.

Source of laibility period: http://articles.timesofindia.indiati...-msrdc-pothole

Further I feel that in general paver blocks laying procedure is not duely followed by authorities & that is why they keep on coming off after a spell of heavy rains.

Thanks,

[Desmosedici]

New Offroading Area being developed within Mumbai Suburbs: Aarey Colony Road.

It is at a very nascent stage and beginners can try their hand even with their cars. By august the road is sure to get transformed into a fully functional offroad track.

Guys with SUVs and 4X4s, be ready.

[Dodge_Viper]

A friend of mine in BMC gave me an example as why the roads are washed away.
Say ideally a good road costs Rs.100 to build. Tenders and all would be invited and all that process a certain tender would be selected. Obviously selection is influenced by n number of factors. Tender is selected which is of Rs.75.

Now out of this 75, Rs.35 would be eaten up by contractor or whoever people involved. Rs.20 would be needed to feed hungry babus. At the end, what we get is a road constructed in Rs.20.

Now imagine how the quality would be.

[EagleEye]

Originally Posted by EagleEye

I don't know whether it has been mentioned in this thread, but it's worth mentioning again:
The potholes on the Western Express Highway Bandra flyover (towards north side) are really the bone wrenching type. Cars slow down to crawling speeds here and as a result it takes a very long time to cross that stretch with vehicles crowding around the entry to the flyover and not being able to get on.

Wish BMC takes care of this soon.

As of yesterday these potholes have been repaired and traffic is smooth once more on this stretch.