[neofromcapone]

Originally Posted by Jignesh

Hello Mumbai folks,

A piece of good & bad news (depending on the way you look at it):

The portion of JVLR Junction, below the flyover, approaching from Western Suburbs (Borivali side) is finally closed for Cement Concretization.
The bad news, the junction will be jammed for most of the day as only two lanes are now open for traffic for next couple of months & starting today morning the traffic was slow for more than 1 kilometer.

Thanks,

I would rather suffer for some days than suffer everyday. I am sure, actually hoping, that once this junction is done up completely and correctly, it will be better.

Jignesh, if you travel this route daily, please update us. As I will be taking alternate routes till then.

Thanks

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by neofromcapone

Jignesh, if you travel this route daily, please update us. As I will be taking alternate routes till then.
Thanks

Hello Neofromcapone,

I agree, a permanent solution is better, because that stretch of road was really in bad shape. I always had a feeling that someday at night a truck / bus might fall on it's side if it passes from here at high speeds. It is good that authorities have finally decided to work on this stretch, though a little late.

Yes, I generally pass though this road daily & I will keep the forum updated once the road is open to traffic. For the time being, I have decided to go via Aarey Road in mornings.

Thanks,

[Desmosedici]

Aarey potholes have been attended to, atleast some of them. Decent i would say but there are still a lot of bad patches but better than before.

I use Aarey daily. Keep speed at 30kmph and a good distance, dont overtake and you should be good.

[normally_crazy]

Originally Posted by Jignesh

Hello Mumbai folks,

A piece of good & bad news (depending on the way you look at it):

The portion of JVLR Junction, below the flyover, approaching from Western Suburbs (Borivali side) is finally closed for Cement Concretization. Basically this is a four lane road & Cement Concretization for two lanes was done couple of months back. The remaining two lanes were really in bad shape & authorities seem to have finally woken-up & decided to improve this stretch. This is the good news, as this will be a permenant solution to traffic snarls at JVLR Junction from people coming from Goregoan & wanting to take left turn into JVLR.

The bad news, the junction will be jammed for most of the day as only two lanes are now open for traffic for next couple of months & starting today morning the traffic was slow for more than 1 kilometer.

Thanks,

Damn...that's bad news indeed. No doubt it will help in the long run but knowing the way road works progress here, it's going to be a long haul.

This morning at around 1000 hours, the jams were stretching right till the Aarey fly over. Evenings are going to worse.

On another note, the cops have closed the right turn towards Jogeshwari station when you approach the JVLR junction from Goregaon....and see in the picture below how that cordoned off space is being used.

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by normally_crazy

This morning at around 1000 hours, the jams were stretching right till the Aarey fly over. Evenings are going to worse.

Hello Normally_crazy,

Yes the Traffic jams were really bad yesterday & today morning (as per updates from my colleagues). Also yesterday evening around 7 pm JVLR was totally jammed from SEEPZ gate No. 3 till JVLR junction. Let us hope that the Cement Concretization work completes soon.

Originally Posted by Desmosedici

Aarey potholes have been attended to, atleast some of them. Decent i would say but there are still a lot of bad patches but better than before.

Hello Desmosedici,

I passed through Aarey road yesterday evening & today morning only to discover that the Road is in much better shape than it was couple of months back. Though the road is not perfect, but now is is easily drivable with very few bad patches. Earlier I could literally hear my bike / car rattling while negotiating the Aarey road. But most important now the traffic jams inside Aarey road have vanished & this will be a boon till time the two lanes of JVLR junction is open to traffic.

Thanks,

[SDP]

Joining JVLR from Easten Express highway (Thane/Mulund side). Yesterday and today, the stretch was jammed really bad. Today morning around 9:30am, the jam extended all the way back to the foot-over bridge on the eastern express highway. Took 10 minutes just to take the right turn onto JVLR. Yesterday, even after taking the right, the traffic consistently moved at a snail's pace till Pizza Hut @Powai. Did not find any reason for the jam. No accidents, no broken down vehicles, no road-work.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by SDP

Joining JVLR from Easten Express highway (Thane/Mulund side). Yesterday and today, the stretch was jammed really bad. Today morning around 9:30am, the jam extended all the way back to the foot-over bridge on the eastern express highway. Took 10 minutes just to take the right turn onto JVLR. Yesterday, even after taking the right, the traffic consistently moved at a snail's pace till Pizza Hut @Powai. Did not find any reason for the jam. No accidents, no broken down vehicles, no road-work.

I did not find any traffic held ups today or yesterday, I crossed the stretch around 8.15-8.30 in the morning. Surprising to know that the traffic was pretty slow till Powai Pizza hut. Normally the few bottlenecks in that stretch are the Rail over bridge at Kanjurmarg, right before the IIT main gate (Courtsey Ramakrishna hotel standing tall still), temple just after the IIT main gate (utter BMC failure to move the structure). This slows down the traffic and the squeezing starts.

[SDP]

@ghodlur, I guess its got to do with the time one hits the junction. It has also got to do with if a policeman is manually controlling traffic at this junction. Once right turn gets choked, the situation escalates really fast. Ideally only the right 2 lanes are supposed to turn right, from under the Kanjurmarg bridge on the EE highway. But when those 2 lanes stop moving and traffic starts backing up, lot of people get into lane 3-4 and try to merge into the rightmost lanes just before the signal. Because of these "smart" folks, the traffic which is headed straight also gets impacted and things only get worse with every passing minute.

Today, lot of cars moved to the service lane as the EE was jammed and then they tried to join back the EE highway at the Kanjurmarg dumping ground junction which is like 100 meters before the JVLR junction. That further added to the chaos.

Let me try a slightly different starting time tomorrow.

[ghodlur]

@SDP,

You are absolutely right. Some smart Alecs decide to create a 3rd or 4th lane at that turning and the traffic starts to pile at the back inconvineincing the vehicles going towards Ghatkopar. The culprits esp those company/private buses who feel they have a right to do so.

I remember few weeks back in such situation when the car in front of me scraped the side skirtings being on the right most side and exactly at the turning some goof headed driver comes too close forcing the car infront of me to swerve to the right and in the process brushing against the skirtings. The doors had huge scratch marks.

[sa_kiran]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

@SDP,

You are absolutely right. Some smart Alecs decide to create a 3rd or 4th lane at that turning and the traffic starts to pile at the back inconvineincing the vehicles going towards Ghatkopar. The culprits esp those company/private buses who feel they have a right to do so.

I remember few weeks back in such situation when the car in front of me scraped the side skirtings being on the right most side and exactly at the turning some goof headed driver comes too close forcing the car infront of me to swerve to the right and in the process brushing against the skirtings. The doors had huge scratch marks.

The design of the road is also to be blamed. A 4-5 lane road suddenly becomes 2 lanes! As per my observation, no corrective action has been taken. As a short term solution, the service lane can be merged to give a clear path to vehicles going towards Ghatkopar. I always take the service lane, much before this bottleneck, whenever I go straight.

The problem can not be resolved as long as the bottleneck exists.

[ghodlur]

The issue is the absence of any divider for that stretch of 100 meters. Put a divider 100 mtrs prior to the turn and vehicles will fall in line but this does not mean than the 3/4 laning will not happen at the start of the divider. The same holds good for the vehicles coming from the JVLR to reach Eastern expressway.

Have seen BEST buses move from the extreme left on the 4 lane to the extreme right when taking that turn to take the JVLR route.

[SDP]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

@SDP,

You are absolutely right. Some smart Alecs decide to create a 3rd or 4th lane at that turning and the traffic starts to pile at the back inconvineincing the vehicles going towards Ghatkopar. The culprits esp those company/private buses who feel they have a right to do so.

I remember few weeks back in such situation when the car in front of me scraped the side skirtings being on the right most side and exactly at the turning some goof headed driver comes too close forcing the car infront of me to swerve to the right and in the process brushing against the skirtings. The doors had huge scratch marks.

I am aware of this "squeezing to the right" that happens. It becomes very difficult to watch both sides of your car. I tend to keep on the rightmost lane (so that I have to just watch the left side of my car) and maintain very short gap bertween me and the car in front. Still there are a few I encounter every day that try to cut into the right-most lane. I don't understand these guys. If both lanes are going to turn right and if you are already in the 2nd lane from right, why try to cut-into the right-most lane?

Originally Posted by ghodlur

The issue is the absence of any divider for that stretch of 100 meters. Put a divider 100 mtrs prior to the turn and vehicles will fall in line but this does not mean than the 3/4 laning will not happen at the start of the divider. The same holds good for the vehicles coming from the JVLR to reach Eastern expressway.
...

About the divider, whatever little that is there currently, itself has proved very dangerous in the past. EE Highway is a fast road generally speaking and I have seen at least 2-3 accidents in the past where during the night a truck did not see the divider and ploughted through it!

A divider at this place should be very clearly marked and visible from a long distance.

[Jignesh]

Hello,

Western Express Highway was surprisingly free today morning from Malad to Jogeshwari. Only traffic I encountered was at JVLR junction due to ongoing repair work.

Similarly Jogeshwari Vikroli Link Road was equally free right from JVLR juncion till Powai. Wonder where have all the vehicles gone today morning?

But one thing I have noted on empty roads - Many Car drivers literally drive as if they are only one on the road which I feel for me more dangerous than driving on jammed packed roads.

Another problem I am facing now-a-days is Auto Rixa drivers literally stop on middle of the road or sudddenly shift to leftmost lane on seeing a prospective passenger. This I feel is very dangerous for bikers who are behind these Auto Rixa's. I understand for Auto Rixa drivers a prospective passenger is matter of Bread & Butter but there has to be some concern for driver who are behind them.

Thanks,

[Jignesh]

Hello All,

Just an update on JVLR Junction Cement Concretization work:

The work is really going at a fast pace & they have levelled the underlying layer of road. Cement concrete mixture is already in place on one lane out of the two lanes that are currently closed.

It seems authorities know the importance of this stretch of road & have planned to complete one lane at a time & open it to Traffic. In my opinion this one lane may be complete & operational in next 15 days.

Regarding traffic situation today morning:

Traffic at JVLR Junction was as usual due to ongoing work.

But surprisingly Western Express Highway was jammed packed right from Malad to Jogeshwari & beyond. According to my colleagues it was jammed till Airport fly-over. Anybody know the reason for this jam on Western Express Highway today?

Thanks,

[ghodlur]

Today morning on the Cadbury flyover in Thane, there was a mini jam. A truck had swerved on to the divider and hence blocked one lane going towards EE highway. Balance two lanes were jammed by the onlookers sitting in their vehicles. Drivers slowed down, commented, laughed and then proceeded. . Took 15 mins to cross the stretch which should have taken 2 minutes.