MUMBAI: Countless commuters, including 500 schoolchildren, were stuck for over five hours on Ghodbunder Road (G B Road), Thane, on Tuesday, due to a massive traffic blockade as a consequence of poor condition of arterial roads and the ongoing repair work along its Gaimukh stretch.
G B Road – stretching from Fountain Hotel, between Mira Road and Bhayandar, to Majiwada junction, Thane – is notorious for its potholed stretches and thick traffic snarls. It connects the Mumbai Ahmedabad National Highway, or NH48, to Thane city. The traffic snarls on G B Road, a mainstay for many months, has a cascading effect on the national highway. Citizens from Thane held many protests recently to call attention to the poor condition of the road which is a challenge for motorists to navigate. (See the map alongside for trouble spots and reasons for the jams.)
Gaimukh repairs impact traffic flow
On Tuesday, 12 buses carrying students of Mother Teresa School, in Malwani, Malad, and Shardashram School, in Dadar, were returning from at the Great Escape Water Park, near Vajreshwari, in Vasai taluka, when they got stuck in the jam on the national highway for over six hours. The buses left Mumbai at 10 am but reached the water park only at 2:30 pm. After spending a few hours there, the return journey started at 6pm towards Borivali, but the vehicles could not even cross the nearest point — Chinchoti in Vasai — till 11.00pm. They reached Mumbai at 5am the next day after spending the night at a resort on the highway, facilitated by MNS workers.
A teacher from Mother Teresa School, who did not wish to be named, said, “The students experienced a horrific journey – there were no provisions of drinking water or places for rest. The picnic actually lasted only three hours, with the maximum time being spent in a jam.”
Commuters have had similar experiences on the national highway and G B Road since Sunday despite the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police banning heavy and oversized vehicles on the Gaimukh Ghat section till midnight of October 14, due to repair works.
In a notification issued on October 10, the MBVV police stated: “The work of geometric improvement and asphalting in the Gaimukh Ghat section of G B Road, which connects a state highway, will be carried out by the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation. The stretch of the ghat section is riddled with deep potholes which leads to major traffic concerns.” The notification also underlined a ban on heavy vehicles plying on this stretch from October 11 to 14.
The plan for repairs was inevitable, said an MBVV police officer, as commuters have been facing traffic snarls between Mira Bhayandar, Vasai-Virar and Thane for long. However, he said, lack of awareness of the scheduled time for drivers of heavy vehicles, exacerbated the chaos.
Journeys on NH 48 have been “a living hell” for commuters since Sunday, with serpentine queues of vehicles seen between Versova Bridge (Mira Road and Bhayandar), and Chinchoti, Vasai. Dr Boorjis H Doctor, who was stuck in the traffic jam on NH48 on Monday told HT: “I drove out of Udvada (located in Valsad district of Gujarat) at 3pm on Monday and reached Mumbai a little after 6:15 am the next day. A journey of four hours stretched to 15. I made a U-turn at Bhiwandi where moon craters are the only road. The 40-km stretch from Bhiwandi to Thane took three hours to accomplish.” Doctor has been at the forefront of bettering the state of NH48.
Importance of NH 48
NH 48 is an important highway connecting Mumbai with Gujarat. Thousands of commercial, private and heavy vehicles journey carrying goods from ports around Mumbai towards Gujarat and industrial areas in Thane and Palghar districts of Maharashtra, and Gujarat.
“There are many manufacturing units in Vasai, Kaman, Bhiwandi and Wada in Thane district located along the highway. No one is taking care of the infrastructure of this belt. We spend two hours in traffic every day to cover a 20-30 kilometer distance,” said Ruma Rao, who owns a factory in the commercial hub of Waliv, in Vasai East, and uses the national highway every day.
“Roads are in a poor state. It’s sad to see that despite being a major manufacturing sector, no one is taking care of the infrastructure.”
The last three days have been a challenge for her as all manufacturing units are in a haste to complete their Diwali orders. “Workers from our factories had to wait for over two hours to reach Vasai station from Vasai east,” Rao added. Meanwhile, following the four-day ban, thousands of heavy vehicles were pulled over by the MBVV police and asked to park on the side of the highway. The highway traffic police made three stopping points after a vehicle entered Palghar district from Gujarat — at Achhad, at Chinchoti in Vasai and Fountain Hotel junction in Mira Road. A driver of a trailer who was on his way from Gujarat to JNPT, said: “They are stopping us with no prior warning or awareness. We have to sit doing nothing for over 18 hours.”
With the ongoing road repairs at Gaimukh, the police halt and release traffic flow on either side by the hour on the four-lane highway. This was imperative because the repair work has left only two open lanes which become a bottleneck on a heavily trafficked road. Traffic police said that due to the blocks, commuters often travel on the wrong side, creating further problems.
The cascading effect is felt on the 120-km stretch on the six-lane NH 48, from Dahisar to Achchhad in Palghar, on the Maharashtra-Gujarat border, which has witnessed a drastic increase in traffic congestion and wrong side driving due to the haphazard road repair work and potholes.
Pankaj Shirsat, DCP, Thane Traffic said, “We had informed everyone that the public repair work on the Gaimukh Ghat section would continue till midnight of October 14. The information regarding the repair work and traffic advisory was widely circulated.”
The public, he said, should have avoided travelling through this route during the ongoing work.
“We understand it’s the festive season and people are bound to use the roads, but considering the closure of one lane for repairs, commuters were expected to use this route only in cases of emergency. It was a matter of just a few days, after which everything would have fallen in place,” he added.