[kinetic]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Here's a video that Normally_Crazy had shared in another thread just when the freeway had opened:


cya
R

It is really annoying to see pedestrians take up entire lanes for walking through the tunneled sections! Besides being a major safety hazard, its only going to slow traffic down. Let's face it, that 30 kmph speed limit will be flouted regularly, and any of those pedestrians could be seriously hurt.

Did you notice any pedestrian warnings/barricades preventing them from walking through those sections? It might have helped to create a barricaded walkway right next to the road, given how inevitable the pedestrian problem is.

[RoadTrippin]

By no means advocating the flouting of rules but whoever decided 30kmph was a sensible and implementable speed limit needs a spanking. Clearly these are the sorts of rules that by their very nature are going to be broken. If rules were more sensible and then implemented vigorously, then more people will follow then.

[sumeethaldankar]

Been over there last Sunday and found the it to be a bit narrow.The speed limit is 60 and many cars were flouting the rule. i had trouble maintaining the 60 speed limit too and had to keep correcting it as it's pretty easy to cross the 60 mark with nothing in front of you.The freeways just's keeps going and going.There are barricades type things on the outer edges of the freeway which obstruct the view.These are supposedly for preventing terrorist attacks against the many chemical tanks/refineries etc which are located on either side of the freeway.
There are 2 exit points i think, i one for Wadala and other for Mantralaya. The Wadala point seemed open while the manatralaya was still blocked as of last Sunday.

[benzinblut]

I have been on the Freeway a couple of times. It is a defiinte boon and could cut your time considerably especially if you are covering the harbour-line route.

The road is good and smooth, but some co-users could take the fun out of it. Some points that come to my mind where one must be careful:

1) Near the tunnel and near the Chembur exit there are a lot of pedestrians seen on the Freeway. This can be seen on pictures of this post: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...ml#post3162988

2) Overspeeding is common right across the stretch. The lanes are not the widest and there are no shoulders. Ive seen high speeding cars surprise many while overtaking.

3) Many corners were waterfilled due to rains. Infact, I found that the freeway struggling to cope with heavy rains that we see so often in Mumbai. Even though its at a height, drainage is slow in most parts. This coupled with high speeds could pose a high risk of aquaplaning.

4) Also, the exit at Wadibunder is like a big pool of water during the rains. You actually have to dip into it to cross it.

5) The Entry at Chembur is a bit complicated. The signal just before the entry (when coming from vashi) has a narrow bylane adjacent to the Freeway. You will see traffic coming right at you then entering this lane when you wait to just enter the Freeway.

6) Stopping over for sight seeing is quite common on the 2 lane stretch with an almost inexistent shoulder.

Its an excellent stretch. Enjoy it carefully!

[shinuak]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

From the photos it looks like the so called "freeway" is a narrow 2 laned elevated stretch.

To call it a real freeway it should have been 3 minimum. I don't get this logic of building just the bare minimum only to find it did not serve the purpose a couple of years down the line.

Same happened with Bangalore Airport and now with BETL. Sometimes BETL is piled up from Kudlu gate till the end in the evenings. Silk board remains a bottle neck and noone thought that with the BETL more cars will reach silk board faster than before creating a bottle neck.

Thats quite true, none of our city planners have the ability to think beyond he current need, that is the reason why we see smooth roads being dug, up for widening / elevated way construction etc, within 2 years of construction. Had the elevated way to BIAL been planned at the time of construction of the airport itself, now they could have prevented the wastage of public money, in first building a super smooth 3 lane road to BAIL and then dig it up later on. Anyone primary school child could have predicted that the traffic volumes are going to increase in this road, which our planners and strategists failed to infer. Now the plan is to widen hebbal flyover as well. Just like in corporates, govt agencies should have a wiki for "lessons learnt" after every such project, analyze and actually learn form their past mistakes.

[lamboguy]

I have been using the freeway on a daily basis for my office commute. One thing I can say, the implied speed limits that have emerged on the freeway are : About 80 kmph (+/- 5 kmph) in the first lane and 60 kmph in the second. The flow of traffic has been really smooth with this setup.

The other day, while driving down to work, I encountered substantial traffic slowdown on the freeway. This was surprising and I thought to myself 'has the freeway, so soon, succumbed to the usual traffic woes of Mumbai?'. The reason for this hold up was nothing but strict adherence to speed limits. 2 cars, a Chevy Optra sporting a red beacon and a Zen, were driving exactly alongside each other at 60 kmph. This happened at half the length of the freeway and resulted in a long queue of cars tailgating each other dangerously.

Apart from above, another factor I have noticed, which creates traffic issues, is cars driving at speeds much lesser than the prescribed ones.

Maybe something like having differential speed limits for 'fast' lane and second lane would optimize traffic flow. I mean it is informally established, why not formally apply it?

Also, bring in minimum speed limits. It is a freeway! One cannot drive at 30 kph (on a 60 kph stretch) and cause inconvenience to others.

[premjit]

Being a regular visitor to Mumbai from Kolkata, I've used the Freeway while returning from Fort to Chembur and I've found it to be a boon. Three points to note on this are:

1. Its pretty narrow and hence anyone would be well suited to being a careful driver. I had a scary experience with an OHC overtaking me from the left while negotiating a puddle of water, with the result that I was totally blinded by the sudden deluge of water on my windshield.
2. While the road is turning, some water puddles can catch you out in a hurry.
3. Finally, I found the exit to Wadala (Bhakti Park side) extremely confusing. Someone guided me to take a left U turn but unfortunately I was directed straight onto oncoming traffic. Then I had to drive down a makeshift "kaccha" ramp before entering the Bhakti Park area. For someone unfamiliar with the roads, it was quite scary.

That said, the Freeway itself is amazing and can really cut down travel times. My only fear is the smooth surface might be a magnet for boy racers and we might have extended holdups with nowhere to go in case a boy racer takes a shunt.

[SPARKled]

I went on this today and in my 15 years of driving I never took my car to SOBO from Chembur where I lived earlier. 10 minutes of sane driving speeds between (80-100) is all it takes to cover the entire stretch of the freeway. It took me 24 minutes to be precise to reach from Regal cinema to Panjrapole Shivaji chowk. I mean this is impressive by any stretch of imagination.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by kinetic

Did you notice any pedestrian warnings/barricades preventing them from walking through those sections? It might have helped to create a barricaded walkway right next to the road, given how inevitable the pedestrian problem is.

Not really.

In the shown video, i thought it was ridiculously dangerous that not only were people strolling on the 2-lane narrow road, but that too inside a tunnel!!

When i went on the freeway, it was early Sunday morning. There were people strolling about in the tunnels, but thankfully they were using the raised walkway on the side of the road.

cya
R

[kinetic]

That is unfortunate to know. I suppose it will require a life (or two or three) and possibly a subsequent lynch mob to get the authorities to do anything about it. Sometimes I wonder how the engineers and planners do not foresee such issues, or whether they just don't give a damn.

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

By far the smoothest piece of tarmac in Mumbai. Guys do watch out when its raining heavily. On the flyover, some places near turns have puddles, so lower your speed to avoid aquaplaning. The puddles are totally unexpected in some places, I'm surprised they are forming.

100% agreement here. 11pm at night it took 9 minutes to Chembur roundabout. And yes, be very careful about those puddles.

[ghodlur]

Its a cursed luck to the motorists on the freeway to see pedestrioans strollling around and I could see a biker in the video posted by Normally_crazy. I am surprised to see no patrolling by traffic cops to shoo such people away. I guess its the intial awe which makes people come on the freeway but hope this doesnt become sort of practice (next we may see joggers on the freeway).

One query - hows the lighting on the freeway esp at nights. I could see the tunnels are brightly lit but the video didnt show a single street light to be on even though the conditions were quite gloomy and dark. Also except for the tunnel entry, couldnt notice speed limit markings on the freeway, no safety signages either.

[djpeesh]

Ghodlur: Last weekend, the lights weren't on on the elevated section. There were already bikers on the road at night, which is pretty dangerous, especially given that it was unlit.

There were quite a few late night strollers in the tunnel and post tunnel section (when driving from SoBo to Chembur).

[ghodlur]

A new storm brewing in. The age old controversy of naming the elevated roads and this time its Eastern Freeway. Wont be surprised if this may lead to some protests and blockades.

Shivsena wants it to be named after Bal Thackeray whereas other factions want it be named after the IAF martyr (Daryll Castelino) recently killed in the Uttarakhand air lifting operations.

[mkpiyengar]

Could someone clarify from where do you approach this freeway from Chembur while coming from Vashi.

Do we need to take a left at the Deonar Signal before RK studios towards The Acres Club and proceed further

OR

Do we need to take left near Chembur Naka ?

OR

Is it the left after Suman Nagar Signal ?

Similarly, where does it end at South Bombay? Fountain ? Sterling ? VT (CST)?

Cheers
MKP