MUMBAI JAMMED

City’s unplanned flyovers become bridges to chaos

Clara Lewis | TNN

For a city bursting at the seams, Mumbai’s 55 flyovers were meant to make life easy by offering a seamless drive. But quite a few of them have added to motorists’ misery. Six flyovers in particular are so bad that clearing them during peak periods can take 15 minutes. These are: the Aarey flyover in Goregaon, the Andheri flyover through the Sahar junction, the Sion flyover on the Eastern Express Highway, the Lalbaug flyover, the Gloria Church flyover in Byculla and the flyover from Dadar TT towards Maheshwari Udyan.
    Infrastructure experts say these flyovers have been constructed without their approach areas being properly planned, leaving bottlenecks at their entries and exits. For example, at the city’s newest flyover, in Lalbaug, there are regular jams at the exit near Jijamata Udyan, Byculla, which result in long queues on the bridge.
    Undisciplined driving just adds to the chaos. Kedarnath Ghorpade, a former chief planner with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), said: “The length of a big car is about 3.5 meters. Another 2 meters is required for clearance. If the distance between two flyovers is 50 or 75 meters at grade (an atgrade intersection is a meeting point of railroad tracks, roads, walkways or any combination of these at the same level), then one has clearance space for only 15 vehicles. But if vehicles cut lanes, the clearance required becomes more. So, maybe only 10 vehicles can pass.
    “This creates a jam all along the flyover, right from the approach to the exit, defeating the flyover’s very purpose. This raises two questions: Is the capital investment justified in terms of travel time? And, is the road behaviour of our drivers proper?”
    In defence of the flyovers, Subhash Nage, chief engineer, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, said: “It cannot be denied that travel time has reduced because of the bridges. Also, we take suggestions and implement them if feasible.”
    EXPERTS’ TAKE
Many flyovers, instead of easing traffic, have simply added to the mess
—Kedarnath Ghorpade
FORMER CHIEF PLANNER, MMRDA
There is a need for holistic planning for the entire area through which a flyover passes rather than just focusing on the flyover stretch specifically
—Sulakshana Mahajan
URBAN PLANNER, MUMBAI TRANSFORMATION SUPPORT UNIT
PUBLIC OPINION
It takes 15 minutes on an average to clear the Aarey flyover in Goregaon
—S Venugopal
KANDIVALI RESIDENT
MODEL SOLUTION

• An infrastructure expert says that to decongest the flyovers, the authorities must implement traffic rules with the strictness they reserve for Marine Drive

• On this road, the lanes are clearly marked

• If a car is on the third lane (closest to the divider) and intends to go to Mantralaya, it cannot suddenly turn left

• Similarly, vehicles in the first lane cannot go straight and must compulsorily turn left at signals Traffic police constables enforce the rules
CITIZEN SPEAK A group of citizen activists recently wrote to the chief minister with suggestions about improving traffic conditions in the city. Here are some:

• Make the junctions better by marking out lanes, installing CCTV cameras and ensuring the presence of traffic policemen

• Supervise street parking

• Develop a vigorous and effective support system for carpooling

• Provide universal low-cost radio paging through mobile telephony for taxies and autorickshaws

• Stagger office timings

• Put bus rapid transit system on the fast track

• Improve route information/maps for buses DECONGESTING OUR ROADS FIVE WORST FLYOVERS

SYMPTOMATIC OF THE MALAISE: Infrastructure experts say many of the city’s flyovers, like the one through Sahar junction, Andheri, have been constructed without their approach areas being properly planned, leaving bottlenecks at their entries and exits

Andheri
The flyover, that passes through the Sahar junction, is on the Western Express highway. The morning peak period is difficult to endure through the glut of vehicles. Problems persist at the exits, where motorists tend to abruptly cut left after descending the flyover to get onto the service roads. This obstructs the smooth flow of traffic coming from the underside

Gloria Church, Byculla
The flyover lands at a busy intersection, which has the effect of extending the jam to almost a kilometre. Adding to the woes is traffic from the Lalbaug flyover, which has its own set of problems near the exits. At some points, the distance between the lower lane and the approach of the flyover is so narrow that often traffic threatens to come to a conflict

Sion
Approaching the island city from the Eastern Express Highway is a motorist’s nightmare. At the Sion flyover, which is en route, confusion reigns. There are no boards or lane markings, and first-time motorists come to know of a separate approach only when they come close to the flyover. An infrastructure expert says that at least the bollards (short vertical posts) marking the separation of the flyover from the road alongside should be extended by 500 metres

From Dadar TT towards Maheshwari Udyan
During the evening peak period, traffic exiting the flyover for the road to Maheshwari Udyan meets traffic from Hindu Colony that turns left for the King’s Circle flyover. This creates a massive jam as vehicles jostle for space. The flyover should have been planned in a way to avoid this intermingling of heavy traffic headed for conflicting directions
Aarey, Goregaon
The evening peak period is especially stressful since heavy traffic from 6-7 lanes approach from Jogeshwari for the three-laned flyover. The resulting bottleneck is made worse by frazzled motorists trying to overtake by cutting lanes. Some motorists go to the extent of cutting onto the service road and trying to cut back in from a point just at the start of the flyover. The jam sometimes extends to the start of the Jogeshwari flyover