WEH woes: Govt control is needed
A day after actor Pratik Gandhi alleged mistreatment by cops as he walked along a jammed WEH during VIP movement, FPJ looks at reasons causing jams
Mumbai has over 42 lakh vehicles running along its roads with a density of 2100 vehicles per km. One of the worst affected stretches is the Western Express Highway (WEH) that is perennially marred by traffic snarls. This is despite the fact that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) partly started the Metro-7 route from Dahisar (E) to Aarey, plying along the WEH. This is a part of the 20-km line connecting with the Metro-2A.
The traffic woes however, have been compounded by other work being carried out along the route. Transport experts claim that the planning of projects could have been streamlined and that the government needs to exercise control.
Metro rail and subway widening on WEH
Throughout its construction, the Metro-7 had become an eyesore for motorists due to the long traffic jams due to its construction and now, despite partial operations, there is not much respite.
Transport experts said the MMRDA should have taken up Metro-2A first, right till D N Nagar in Andheri (W). “The Metro-7 is built on the WEH, which has effectively taken up space for vehicles.
The highway is closer to the railway stations, plus it runs parallel to the suburban trains, so Metro-7 could have been taken later, while focusing on completing Metro-2A entirely which is quite away from the railway stations,” said AV Shenoy of the Mumbai Mobility Forum. The tentative deadline for starting the second phase is August, though sources claim that this is highly unlikely.
WEH improvement
The planning authority is widening the vehicular subways at Kandivali and Malad along the WEH. This, however, has narrowed down the width of the road and created bottlenecks. Additionally, there are Metro stations close by, which too, have eaten up part of the road space. The MMRDA, in a bid to provide seamless traffic movement, has estimated a Rs 200 crore upgradation plan.
With the flyovers already in place, the authorities want to make WEH signal free. There are also plans to install anti-crash barriers to prevent accidents on the highway, frame a policy for foot overbridges (FoB) and install new signages. “The simplest thing to do is to set up dedicated bus lanes on the WEH which has five lanes on each side,” said transport expert Ashok Datar.
Traffic officials have opined that simultaneous work being undertaken on the 33 different infrastructure projects going on at the WEH has resulted in traffic congestion. They believe if these projects are completed in the stipulated time and projects are initiated one at a time it can vastly improve the traffic scenario.