[moralfibre]

Originally Posted by hothatchaway

How did you connect to the MTHL from Andheri? (airport) Did you drive to Bandra then the Sea Link to Worli followed by the Eastern Freeway?

Airport - Bandra - Dharavi - Matunga - Wadala - Eastern Freeway.

[Iyencar]

I was of the opinion that the toll is a rip off. Drove from Kandivali towards Panvel on Sunday and back to Kandivali on Tuesday morning. The time I saved on Sunday wasn’t much. Probably would have reached faster via Vashi. Tuesday morning at 8 am maps showed 1h 24 m from Nerul via Mankhurd. Momma didn’t raise a sucker and I didn’t believe it one bit. The time always keeps increasing as you drive. First the Vashi toll bottleneck, then the 5 lanes merging into 2 lanes at Mankhurd. SCLR is another bottleneck because there are metro barricades at the Kurla BKC junction and at the end past Kalina. Took me 10 min to Chirle from Nerul. Another 15-20 min to reach Bhakti Park. The first time I encountered any real traffic was trying to get onto the BKC connector.
I’m incredibly happy to have this option now. In peak traffic I’d rather use the MTHL once in a while and be happy atleast till Wadala. rather than be frustrated all the way from Vashi to the end of the Western Suburbs.

Originally Posted by moralfibre

Airport - Bandra - Dharavi - Matunga - Wadala - Eastern Freeway.

If you take SCLR or the BKC connector then you only have 1 signal at the Ghatkopar turn towards Mankhurd. Will save significant time compared to the route given above.

Originally Posted by rakesh_r

I have three successive airport pick and drop trips in Feb. I am planning to take the MTHL. For this i presume i need to take the Panvel exit --> JNPT--> Chirle Interchange --> Sewri Interchange if I am not wrong?

That’s right. You get off the expressway before Kalamboli. Turn left at the Dmart and straight on past the new airport. Keep going straight (you’ll pass below the bridge towards Ulwe/Belapur. Ensure you don’t take the ramp). Keep on the left most lane and keep driving. You’ll see the bridge after about 5-7 min. There is a service road with a dead end. Keep parallel and you’ll see that there’s only one ramp on the left. No big signboards or anything. Just one small green board. Once you’re on the ramp it’s just driving straight on. At the end of the bridge keep left and take the Wadala exit, onwards to the BKC connector and then to the airport.

P.S. it’s on GMaps now.

[youknowitbetter]

Drove on the MTHL today. Have couple of observations:

1. People were just trying to get on on MTHL, so there was bit of a chaos while just entering.
2. Saw lots of people parked on the side and making a picnic out of it, and few people misusing the sunroof. Especially, on the way back from Uran to Mumbai, maybe it was to catch the sunset..
3. Exit is little confusing for folks like me who want to just take a u-turn and come back to the express way.
4. Wind speed and force was quite noticeable on the way back from Uran to Mumbai.

Have few suggestions as well:
1. Little bit of patrolling is needed right now to make people adhere to the rules.
2. Another way can be by increasing the toll if someone takes longer than say 1 hour or something on those lines. May be this can be implemented only when fast tags are replaced with GPS based toll.

[Rodie09]

Hey friends,

The MTHL has triggered in an itch for me to take my family for a one day trip to Mumbai from Pune. Trust me we have done number of airport trips in past, but since my son is growing up now, I want to show Mumbai to him. MTHL gives a nice reason for it.

Trip will be done in my Safari XZA Adventure, 6 people including my Wife, son, parents, FIL. What I am looking for is to:

1. Take MTHL in day time into Mumbai
2. Take MTHL on my way back to get the evening lit up MTHL experience.
3. In the middle, during the day I'd want to catch on some Mumbai attractions such as Gateway of India, Colaba, Marine Drive and even a trip over Bandra Worli Sea Link.
4. Can I catch up on anything else such as Juhu Beach, Planetarium etc?
5. Would love to get a taste of Mumbai over Lunch - appreciate any recommendations.

Main concerns is Parking when going around Mumbai spots - can anyone guide how to work this out or if paid parking is available in most places?

Sorry, if this sounds an unrelated post and happy for it to be merged in other thread or guided otherwise.

Any pointers on this one day Mumbai trip will be helpful.

Many thanks !

[Iyencar]

Yesterday, a Saturday I had the unique opportunity to do a real time comparison of the MTHL, SCLR and JVLR from Nerul to Kandivali. We were moving and had hired professionals to do the same.

Vehicles: our BRV, a 407 pick up and a Tata Ace.

Time of departure: 2.20 pm. All vehicles left within 10-15 min of each other. The 407 left first followed by the pick up and then us.

Route:
Brv- MTHL onto the BKC connector
Pick up- SCLR via Mankhurd connector
407- JVLR via Mankhurd connector

Gmaps estimate: 1h 45 min on all roads

Toll:
MTHL: 250 INR
Vashi: 45

Experience: So the road for us was empty from Seawoods to the end of the MTHL. In fact there was only a little traffic at Bandra. Traffic kept increasing on the WEH and Gmaps suddenly added 39 min at Goregaon! I was in touch with both the commercial drivers. By the time I was around 10 kms into the MTHL, both vehicles had crossed Vashi toll. The 407 was almost on the Eastern Expressway towards JVLR and the Tata Ace was halfway through the Mankhurd-Ghatkopar Link Road. The Ace crossed Kurla by the time I reached the end of the BKC connector. Here’s the kicker, the largest vehicle i.e. the 407 reached before we did! And the Ace and BRV came within 2 minutes of each other. All in all we paid about 200 more in toll, drove 15 kms more and reached at the same time. Note that being a Saturday, we faced less traffic than on a weekday in BKC. If it had been a working day, we would have taken even longer.

Conclusion: As of now, the MTHL is an advantage to go down to South Bombay. Even then, there is the option for folks to just take the Freeway and go down there. On the other hand for going into the Western Suburbs, it really depends on a lot of factors like the time of day, if it’s a weekend, etc. I’ll still say that having the MTHL is a good option.

[Iyencar]

Originally Posted by Rodie09

Hey friends,
Trust me we have done number of airport trips in past, but since my son is growing up now, I want to show Mumbai to him. MTHL gives a nice reason for it.

Welcome

Originally Posted by Rodie09

In the middle, during the day I'd want to catch on some Mumbai attractions such as Gateway of India, Colaba, Marine Drive and even a trip over Bandra Worli Sea Link.
4. Can I catch up on anything else such as Juhu Beach, Planetarium etc?
5. Would love to get a taste of Mumbai over Lunch - appreciate any recommendations.

Main concerns is Parking when going around Mumbai spots - can anyone guide how to work this out or if paid parking is available in most places?…
Any pointers on this one day Mumbai trip will be helpful. …
Many thanks !

I would say stick to one locality if all you have is a day. Take the MTHL to Colaba and drive on to Marine Drive. There is a pay and park on the street opposite Oberoi. Walk for a bit taking in the views till the mid way point. Cross the road near the petrol pump and climb the fob and back down to Yazdani near Grant Road station. Have your Bun maska and apple pie there. Then walk back to Girgaon Chowpatty. This way you’ll avoid Juhu beach which is quite far away.

You can laze around there and then take a cab to Hanging Gardens for a view of the Queens Necklace (actually better at night but you’ll be late for the return journey). Then take a cab to Bhaudaji Lad museum. A few hours is enough. Then move on to Thakkar Bhojanalay for a heavy lunch.

Take a cab to CST. Walk around Colaba. Then take a cab to Gateway. Have a quick ferry ride. You can go to Canon pavbhaji/Taj Shamiana/Bade Miya/Bagdadi/ or a sea facing dinner on the terrace of Bayview Cafe or Cafe Marina. Take pics near Gateway.

You can also rent a private sail boat (I recommend Discover Sailing) and go into the sea. This needs to be done with an appointment. Once done, take another cab back to Marine drive. Get your car and drive home via the Freeway onto MTHL.

1. Leave as early as you can from Pune in the morning.
2. Do quality over quantity. You can always keep coming back. The Sea Link takes you right into the Western suburbs and you’llgst stuck needlesly in traffic
3. The heat is getting brutal now so keep that in mind
4. Plan everything for a weekend
Feel free to PM me, enjoy ��

[Rodie09]

Originally Posted by Iyencar

Welcome

I would say stick to one locality if all you have is a day. Take the MTHL to Colaba and drive on to Marine Drive.
Take a cab to CST. Walk around Colaba. Then take a cab to Gateway. Have a quick ferry ride. You can go to Canon pavbhaji/Taj Shamiana/Bade Miya/Bagdadi/ or a sea facing dinner on the terrace of Bayview Cafe or Cafe Marina. Take pics near Gateway.

Thanks Iyencar!! That's just sounds like a perfect day plan that I was looking for with quite a lot of detail there. Considering the 3 senior folks with me, not sure how much of walking we'll be able to manage between places - but ya, I got a good idea now. Will surely DM you if I need any more help

[VWAllstar]

Will the bridge be open 24 hours? I am planning to take the bridge early morning at 5:30. Want to be sure so that I don't have to uturn to Chembur and then take the more traditional route of Vashi-Khalapur. Also, will fog be an issue this early morning?

[ruzbehxyz]

Originally Posted by VWAllstar

Will the bridge be open 24 hours? I am planning to take the bridge early morning at 5:30.

This is like any other city road and there are no timings. Just pay the toll and go, be it anytime of the day.

[reverse_gear]

Originally Posted by Iyencar

Conclusion: As of now, the MTHL is an advantage to go down to South Bombay. Even then, there is the option for folks to just take the Freeway and go down there. On the other hand for going into the Western Suburbs, it really depends on a lot of factors like the time of day, if it’s a weekend, etc. I’ll still say that having the MTHL is a good option.

Have done multiple trips on the Atal Setu from (and to) my home in Prabhadevi. All of them were on weekdays for some work or the other. My experience is practically very little or no time saving, even though I stay literally 4km from the Sewri node as the crow flies (or 45 minutes in practical terms ). Things will probably improve once the Sewri-Worli link comes up. In reality, this bridge works as a time saver for going to south Mumbai from the Mumbai-Pune expressway, as you can connect directly to the eastern freeway. I mentioned this elsewhere... the bridge will get you from Sewri to Navi Mumbai in 20 min, but getting to the Sewri end is itself a 1.5-2 hour slog from most parts of the city.

[ruzbehxyz]

Source: Instagram.

[IAmGroot]

Originally Posted by reverse_gear

the bridge will get you from Sewri to Navi Mumbai in 20 min, but getting to the Sewri end is itself a 1.5-2 hour slog from most parts of the city.

Tell me about it! Last Saturday was on a trip to Virar(Jivdani) and during our return journey to Pune thought of taking a de-tour to Bandra. Drive from Virar to Bandra itself took 2 hours. Then from Bandra(bandstand) to Sewri via Worli sea-link, 1 hour. Drive from Worli to Sewri was full-on bumper to bumper.

Now the whole idea was to drive over Atal Setu, we touched the Eastern Freeway below the flyover and had to take help from traffic police on how to join MTHL after taking a right turn too quickly. Nevertheless, that 22 km on Atal Setu was zen, absolute magnificent. The whole peace then comes crashing down as soon as we head towards Pune after the link ends with JNPT traffic heading towards Pune/Goa. The real benefit of this sea link from Pune side will be felt once Pune expressway connector is complete.

In terms of architecture, Bandra Worli seas link stands ahead. However, the 100 printed on lanes of Atal Setu is at par with Pune Mumbai Expressway.

In one full day from 4:30 AM to 9 PM we circled almost full Mumbai and my Kids who had never seen Mumbai, got to see it in its full glory. The glory is viewed better through Panoramic sunroof. We didn’t open the glass-pane, just the shade. The trip meter stood at 423 Km with 14 KMPL. Thanks to the agitation, not lot of people had ventured out. So, I think we got a fair deal that Saturday with not many people from Pune side venturing into Mumbai.

Over many decades we have been travelling Pune-Mumbai, and it has always been trains and public transport. This is the first time we hit the Mumbai roads, and we did miss 2-3 turns in heart of city. However, generally we were able to navigate through the Mumbai maze very well. I have picked up few bad habits driving in Pune city, and when in Mumbai I recognized the skill of driving in own centre lane and being alert to not blocking left-right turning traffic at intersections. Another great skill in Mumbai is to know when to climb flyover and when to take the subway.

[GreenerPlanet]

Originally Posted by Iyencar

Route:
Brv- MTHL onto the BKC connector
Pick up- SCLR via Mankhurd connector
407- JVLR via Mankhurd connector

Gmaps estimate: 1h 45 min on all roads

Thanks for sharing a real world experience.
For non-mumbaikars like me, would help to add a map of all the 3 routes to get a sense of what was tried.

[mayuresh]

Hello Pune-Mumbai travelers who may have taken MTHL.

- How is the road connectivity from eway to MTHL? I read that such link is not yet up, but whatever approach road exists today, how is it and at what speed can you travel there?

- Was planning a travel to south Mumbai. From Google maps it appears that MTHL saves about 5km but adds about 15 mins besides additional toll of Rs 250. Prima facie it doesn't look worth it (barring just wanting to see the new bridge once).

Hope the above data points are correct and are there any other pros and cons?

[reverse_gear]

Originally Posted by mayuresh

- How is the road connectivity from eway to MTHL? I read that such link is not yet up, but whatever approach road exists today, how is it and at what speed can you travel there?

You have to take the JNPT exit before Panvel. Short section of 3-4 km on NH48, which can be a little slow before you get onto the JNPT road for the next 10-12km. The JNPT road is 6 lane good quality tarmac and you can generally travel at good speed, but keep in mind that you will have a lot of multi-axles for company. The exits both from the eway as well as onto the MTHL are quite smooth. When you are traveling in the opposite direction, you have to be careful that you don't miss the exit from NH48 to the eway as it is not properly marked and is a small exit that comes up suddenly. But exiting from the eway is not a problem.

Originally Posted by mayuresh

- Was planning a travel to south Mumbai. From Google maps it appears that MTHL saves about 5km but adds about 15 mins besides additional toll of Rs 250. Prima facie it doesn't look worth it (barring just wanting to see the new bridge once).

I am surprised that Gmaps is adding 15 min for taking MTHL, it should not be the case. I am guessing it may be to do with the transfer from Sewri node to wherever you plan to go in South Mumbai. If your location is not connected through the Eastern Freeway (for example Worli Seaface), then the time taken to connect from Sewri to your destination actually offsets any time saved by taking MTHL.

Originally Posted by mayuresh

Hope the above data points are correct and are there any other pros and cons?

If you are relying on Gmaps, just be a little careful about the route after Sewri. From my location in Prabhadevi, it sometimes shows routes that are not suitable for cars - these are the small gullies that 2-wheelers can take to cross the harbour line railway but a car cannot take. Someone who doesn't know the roads around the area could be easily misled.