Team-BHP > Street Experiences


Reply
  Search this Thread
267,886 views
Old 19th July 2015, 16:15   #346
Senior - BHPian
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 3,717
Thanked: 449 Times
Re: Review of the Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway (Mumbai-Pune)

As per TV reports, iron holding on the sides is old and hence the area is now prone to frequent land slides. Where does the Rs. 195 toll collected from cars go? The reason given for toll collection is maintenance and neither the road is well maintained nor anything done for safety. Unfortunately, nothing will change and no one will be held responsible. In any other country, the agency in charge of this road would have been sued to bankruptcy for death's of 3 people!
amit is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 19th July 2015, 16:17   #347
Team-BHP Support
 
Akshay1234's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 10,264
Thanked: 12,302 Times
Re: Review of the Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway (Mumbai-Pune)

Was heading to Lonavla today, and the police were diverting cars off the expressway from the first exit itself i.e Panvel. Thought something major must have happened. Even the old road was totally blocked.

Its high time something permanent is done about that landslide area, this is getting a bit ridiculous now every monsoon.
Akshay1234 is offline  
Old 19th July 2015, 17:07   #348
Senior - BHPian
 
phamilyman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Gurgaon
Posts: 5,968
Thanked: 4,635 Times
Re: Review of the Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway (Mumbai-Pune)

landslides in the area today itself via twitter:
Review of the Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway (Mumbai-Pune)-ckriomrucaaar_t.jpg
phamilyman is offline  
Old 19th July 2015, 17:58   #349
BHPian
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: valsad
Posts: 78
Thanked: 137 Times
Re: Review of the Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway (Mumbai-Pune)

Looks like their Rock anchoring system fails. It required constant monitoring and maintenance in each season. But after all it's in India and the whole country runs on "hope" / "chalta hai attitude".

Last edited by GTO : 20th July 2015 at 14:35. Reason: Last line was inappropriate
Nilay is offline   (4) Thanks
Old 19th July 2015, 21:47   #350
BHPian
 
carfreak77's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 306
Thanked: 130 Times

Was heading towards Pune today. I started the expressway at around 12:10pm and immediately at the Panvel exit, there was a jam. Cops were diverting traffic onto the old road. The old road was completely jammed, after taking NH4 for a certain distance, there was another huge jam and many cars were taking a small left turn which was climbing a mountain (this was beyond the turning to rejoin the expressway). I think people were blindly following other cars. It turned out that tiny road up the mountain was a dead-end! This resulted in tons of cars taking U-turns on a single lane road with mud and slush on the side.
I got so fed-up due to the intense traffic that as soon as I reached NH4 again, I just took a U-turn to head back to Bombay. Again people were driving on the wrong side of the road so that caused another complete jam.
Also, there were some hooligans on the road who were misguiding cars and telling them to take the wrong turns thereby worsening the situation. I finally reached Panvel by 4:30pm. So for 4 hours I travelled about 40kms.
The reasoning about the iron rods that hold the rocks being old and rusted is completely absurd. If the authorities are aware of it being rusted, they should have had them replaced ages ago and not wait for a disaster like this to occur before acting. As another BHPian rightly said above, the toll we pay goes neither towards making the road better nor making the ghat section safer.

When the expressway was built in 2002, I had a concern about keeping the ghat section common to the expressway and NH4. My fears have come true multiple times. The most critical section where landslides are prone to occur is the one they choose to keep common; two separate routes should have been constructed at that time to account for one of the roads being closed should something go wrong.

Quote:
Originally Posted by akshay1234 View Post
Was heading to Lonavla today, and the police were diverting cars off the expressway from the first exit itself i.e Panvel. Thought something major must have happened. Even the old road was totally blocked.

Its high time something permanent is done about that landslide area, this is getting a bit ridiculous now every monsoon.
Akshay, were you heading towards Lonavala today in your Skoda vRS by any chance?

Last edited by ampere : 19th July 2015 at 22:36. Reason: Back to back posts merged
carfreak77 is offline  
Old 20th July 2015, 12:08   #351
BHPian
 
driverace's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Pune
Posts: 413
Thanked: 173 Times
Re: Review of the Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway (Mumbai-Pune)

Has this section been cleared yet?
I'm still seeing tweets about roads being jammed.

Taking the old Mumbai-Pune highway still makes us take the common road (with the risk) as mentioned above by carfreak77.
Still, I think, the old highway is kinda safer.
Any alternative to that!?

I have to travel to Mumbai from Pune, tomorrow evening/night - can't avoid the journey.


Thanks,

Ace.

Last edited by driverace : 20th July 2015 at 12:14.
driverace is offline  
Old 20th July 2015, 12:15   #352
Senior - BHPian
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 3,717
Thanked: 449 Times
Re: Review of the Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway (Mumbai-Pune)

What is this story in media about 1 person dying because a car ran over him when he was trying to save the affected passengers from the car that got caught in the landslide (I am assuming it was the White Manza)? Did the car hit him because he probably ran across the expressway just as the landslide happened because after the landslide it's not possible for a car to drive past at high speed with stones & boulders strewn across the road. I wish the media was more clear in their reporting. The papers say it was a hit & run and no one knows what car it was.

Besides the mystery story above, I am surprised at the muted response in media over this incident. Ever since monsoons started this year, there have been frequent landslides and ultimately 3 people lost their lives. I was expecting the media to make more noise considering that toll is charged for maintenance of this road. It's not even the main headlines in Mumbai edition news papers. Seems the media is nowadays only concerned if high level central govt ministers or PM or some bollywood celebrity is involved in accidents.

This shows how seriously this country takes road safety. Honestly, I am surprised the people who got caught in the landslide were not arrested for rash & negligent driving!

Last edited by amit : 20th July 2015 at 12:17.
amit is offline  
Old 20th July 2015, 13:38   #353
BHPian
 
Dieseltuned's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Bombay
Posts: 709
Thanked: 1,155 Times
Re: Review of the Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway (Mumbai-Pune)

Quote:
Originally Posted by driverace View Post
Has this section been cleared yet?
I'm still seeing tweets about roads being jammed.

Taking the old Mumbai-Pune highway still makes us take the common road (with the risk) as mentioned above by carfreak77.
Still, I think, the old highway is kinda safer.
Any alternative to that!?

I have to travel to Mumbai from Pune, tomorrow evening/night - can't avoid the journey.


Thanks,

Ace.
If road journey is a must you can use the Pune - Nasik - Mumbai route. or else quite frankly just ditch the road and board the train. The railways have arranged for special trains between Pune and Bombay to clear the rush.

Regards
Dieseltuned
Dieseltuned is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 20th July 2015, 14:41   #354
GTO
Team-BHP Support
 
GTO's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Bombay
Posts: 70,340
Thanked: 298,746 Times
Re: Review of the Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway (Mumbai-Pune)

I left from Lonavla at about 1430 hours yesterday. A little down the ghat and the traffic started. I could see that the expressway was completely jammed. Having heard about landslides just recently, I was hoping it wasn't the same again.

Took a detour and got on to the old Mumbai-Pune road. Spent about 2 hours snaking through traffic, although I heard much worse stories from people who stayed on the expressway. Finally got home at 1830 hours.

Got the news about the tragic death later in the afternoon. RIP.
GTO is offline  
Old 20th July 2015, 15:22   #355
Team-BHP Support
 
Akshay1234's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 10,264
Thanked: 12,302 Times
Re: Review of the Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway (Mumbai-Pune)

Quote:
Originally Posted by carfreak77 View Post
Akshay, were you heading towards Lonavala today in your Skoda vRS by any chance?
Was in the X3. Reached Khopoli on the old road, and it was totally blocked there. Backtracked to Khalapur and joined the expressway leading back to Mumbai, since I remembered while getting on the old road people were driving on the wrong side and had a feeling the toll naka there would be totall jammed. Anyway the expressway was totally empty (obviously) and that was a good decision.
Akshay1234 is offline  
Old 20th July 2015, 16:24   #356
Senior - BHPian
 
S_U_N's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Oslo
Posts: 1,809
Thanked: 417 Times
Re: Review of the Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway (Mumbai-Pune)

Screenshot of the Live Traffic from Google maps.
Taken yesterday evening. The blood red (or dark brown) indicates a jam.
Review of the Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway (Mumbai-Pune)-screenshot_20150719200722.png

Last edited by S_U_N : 20th July 2015 at 16:25.
S_U_N is offline   (2) Thanks
Old 22nd July 2015, 10:53   #357
BHPian
 
mannubhai's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 408
Thanked: 288 Times
Re: Review of the Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway (Mumbai-Pune)

I heard that expressway is being closed from 10am to 5pm till 31st to clear off the debris and move out loose rocks which might slide

Im planning to drive down from Bangalore to Mumbai on 31st. Should I stick to the expressway or look for alternatives ?
mannubhai is offline  
Old 22nd July 2015, 11:35   #358
Senior - BHPian
 
S_U_N's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Oslo
Posts: 1,809
Thanked: 417 Times
Re: Review of the Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway (Mumbai-Pune)

Quote:
Originally Posted by mannubhai View Post
I heard that expressway is being closed from 10am to 5pm till 31st to clear off the debris and move out loose rocks which might slide

Im planning to drive down from Bangalore to Mumbai on 31st. Should I stick to the expressway or look for alternatives ?
There are reports that local authorities have decided to make it single lane at the affected areas. So, traffic should keep moving.

Earlier there was rumor that the highway would be closed. That part is confirmed to be untrue.
S_U_N is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 22nd July 2015, 12:04   #359
Senior - BHPian
 
ghodlur's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Thane
Posts: 5,997
Thanked: 4,174 Times
Re: Review of the Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway (Mumbai-Pune)

Got this over Whatsapp. It seems the traffic curbing is only for the trucks. Except for the two weekends the traffic arrangements will be valid until 3rd August 2015 and is applicable for both the E-way as well as the old Mumbai Pune highway. In any case the authorities cannot afford to cut off Pune from Mumbai hence I am assuming that the public transportation would not be affected. Of course the traffic will crawl at snail's pace due to blocking of lane on the Pune carriageway.

I am scheduled for a team building even on the 30th July so will be relying on the BHPians who would comment on the road conditions and traffic arrangements on the stretch till Khandala where the majority of the works are expected to be carried out.
Attached Thumbnails
Review of the Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway (Mumbai-Pune)-img20150722wa0006.jpg  

ghodlur is offline   (2) Thanks
Old 22nd July 2015, 17:57   #360
BHPian
 
driverace's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Pune
Posts: 413
Thanked: 173 Times
Re: Review of the Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway (Mumbai-Pune)

Guys,

I just returned from Mumbai (this morning 8AM).
The journey was fine.

We left at 8pm yesterday (had to pick up my brother from CSIA).
We reached CSIA (area) at around 1am (2-3 hours buffer kept for jams- converted into just waiting time)
Useless information *Me and my wife were playing Hill-climb-racing & facebook-facebook, respectively
Started from CSIA at 4:30AM & reached Hadapsar at 8 AM.

Road condition was good.
Some lanes on the road (just before the tunnel-where landslide has occured) were closed.
Also, be careful as you would experience waterfall-on-the-road (we did, yesterday & today also).

Better to stick to middle lane & keep speeds below regular speeds, kept otherwise.

Caution- while coming from CSIA to Pune (somewhere before VASHI toll booths), there are HORRIBLE potholes on the flyover.

Continuous rain Lonavla-Mumbai-Lonavla.

Travel safe,

Ace.

Last edited by driverace : 22nd July 2015 at 18:00.
driverace is offline   (1) Thanks
Reply

Most Viewed
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Team-BHP.com
Proudly powered by E2E Networks