Team-BHP - Deteriorating roads of Maharashtra

This is so close to the heart. I travel everyday between Sion and Seepz, and I dont cross an average speed of 20kmph. It takes me nearly 1 hour to cover about 15kms.

Major choke points:

- People crossing in Dharavi (absolute mess !)
- BKC/Kalanagar signal, where 2nd and 3rd lane is taken up by cars who want to turn right, so the cars who want to go straight now need to move to the 4th lane thus impeding traffic in those lanes.
- 6 lanes merging into 3 on Santacruz flyover.
- Get down from that flyover and now you are pushed into 2.5 lanes due to the new flyover which ends exactly at the same place.
- Then again the 5 lanes merge to get on the Vile Parle flyover.
- After getting into Andheri, its just a different kind of a mess.

We can go on and on. Solution to this?
If only these guys can keep the roads potholes and pothole filled mountain free, it will ease a lot of traffic.

About the traffic on the toll plaza. I could think of the following, just keep the toll it on one side, why do you need to charge toll while entering and exiting. Take double toll while exiting or while on the entry. This will ease a lot of traffic and save a lot of fuel.

Today it took me 3 hours to cover a distance of 15 km from Lower Parel to Ghatkopar. Never did I imagine that a city could have such horrible roads. Some roads are blocked today due to the visit of a national politician, and the other roads are choked to the point where google maps recommends roads which are not even suitable for cars, let alone the mini trucks. Also, to add to the chaos, bikers and auto drivers in Mumbai demonstrate a level of lawlessness which is unseen in most civilised places.

Honestly I don’t know if things will ever improve here. Most people don’t seem to care about road quality or infrastructure. Everyone is happy suggesting a commute by local trains in the 40 degree heat, where one might get thrown out by the crowd because people hang on to the doors of moving trains in peak hours.

This place hardly looks like a city outside the posh areas of SoBo. Even BKC looks like a dilapidated war zone. Every road surface is potholed, has exposed metal rods, or has uneven surfaces that make bumps feel like luxuries.

Thankfully i don't venture out on Mumbai roads much thus saving a lot of trouble. Only short and limited distances.

However couple of weeks back had to go to Vasai from Thane on a Sunday morning. I was expecting a pleasant ride but after taking right from Fountain on Mumbai Ahmedabad highway the horror started. Concrete was laid on half of the road and we took that. After a while the traffic was moving very slow on the concrete part. After crawling for another 15-30 minutes realized whats going on. The road was blocked going forward due to construction and at a portion where the gap is less vehicles including trucks are getting down to the older tar road section. For most of the part, there is big difference in height between the two road sections.

Lesson learnt and for rest of the journey took the tar road section, also known as dumbar road. The next concrete section was even scarier. Vehicles as well took that and this time at the end the gap was so high they had to literally jump only using some rods extending out of concrete for support. I was watching that from the other side.

Following those vehicles a fully loaded truck arrived on the concrete side ready to jump down. I don't know how it could manage going down without overturning. I had to move ahead.

I wonder if the concrete isn't complete why do they allow vehicles to ride on it. That calls for disaster.

Maharashtra is a decade behind all the neighbouring states as far as road infrastructure is concerned.

The excuse is that it 'rains heavily' in the state. Kya bakwaas hai (colloquial: what nonsense).

Just returned from a 9,890km road trip covering MH, MP, UP, BH, WB, AS, OD, AP, TN and KA. Travel was Sept-end to mid-Nov.

Witnessed rain damage in BH, AS, WB and northern-OD. Still better than the pot-holed, speed-breaker(ed) stretch between Chakan and Samruddhi Mahamarg.

The closest I got to MH roads was the stretch from Bengaluru to Tumkuru (felt right at home :Frustrati)

The funny(/sad??) part is that rural roads in MH are much better than state or national highways. Most of the ones I have used in the past 12 months are well marked, many are concretised and some are actually speed-breaker free. (Many DO have rumbler strips)

NH 66 between Panvel and Mangaon is in dire need of a divine intervention.

Kolhapur-Pune has been cited (cited? Vilified :Frustrati is more likely) in other posts.

Mumbai >> Ahmedabad also discussed in other posts

Solapur >> Hyderabad (Omerga stretch anyone??) has been a pain since before Covid.

Samruddhi Mahamarg is good, YCEW (Mum-Pune) is crowded and Kolhapur-Solapur highway is not (crowded).

I can only 'live to (and) drive' on AT tyres and multiple prayers on the state and national 'highways' within mazha Maharashtra.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jattitude (Post 5896083)

Hey guys! Is anyone aware of the current road condition between Aurangabad to Kolhapur and the time that it will take for this drive? I’m planning to drive down from Nagpur to Goa via Samruddhi Expressway and take a night halt at either Kolhapur or Satara as per time taken.

Are you going via Pune ? Actually no need. I had exited Jalna and halted at Solapur for the night. Could have covered more distance but visited Tuljabhavani temple in Osmanabad. Aurangabad -Solapur is good 4 lane tar road with less traffic.Kolhapur-Solapur is also 4 laned with a bit of traffic an hour before Kolhapur. You can halt at Kolhapur if you leave early and dont take long breaks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by inder (Post 5897318)

Hey, Inder! Thank you! Can you share the time taken between each journey leg?