Fly through JVLR, end up in a crawl

Vikhroli end of the Rs 111-crore link road is a bottleneck because of long-pending bridge construction work; motorists say hour-long jams are not uncommon in the area

Fly through JVLR, end up in a crawl

Vikhroli end of the Rs 111-crore link road is a bottleneck because of long-pending bridge construction work; motorists say hour-long jams are not uncommon in the area

WHILE zipping along on the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR) is a dream come true for many motorists who need to travel from the Western Express Highway to its Eastern counterpart on a daily basis, the dream quickly turns into a nightmare as soon as they reach Vikhroli.

MiD DAY report on August 1

Construction of a road overbridge (ROB) just after the Gandhi Nagar junction has been a work-in-progress for over a year, leading to the area after the junction's flyover becoming a significant bottleneck on the Rs 111-crore link road.

Construction of the bridge, which is supposed to pass over the railway lines at Vikhroli, is not only inconveniencing motorists, who have to deal with hour-long jams during peak hours, but is also making manning traffic a headache for the traffic police.

"The MSRDC should try and complete the work as soon as possible because the area just before the Eastern Express Highway witnesses jams longer than half a kilometre on a daily basis.

The lack of working streetlights on the bridge only makes our job tougher besides making the stretch unsafe for women to walk through at night," said a traffic police official, on condition of anonymity.

On Monday, MiD DAY had reported (Mr CM, here's how MMRDA fooled you) how the JVLR itself is only 95 per cent complete despite a December, 2010 deadline and how the lack of streetlights on various stretches of the link road is making life miserable for motorists and traffic personnel alike.
u00a0
The traffic police department has now written a letter to the MSRDC to expedite the completion of the ROB and provide electricity to the lampposts on the Gandhi Nagar Junction Flyover and near the L&T junction as soon as possible.

Motorist's take
"Getting to the Eastern Express Highway from my house in Powai has become a lot easier thanks to the JVLR, but traffic slows down to a crawl when I reach the Gandhi Nagar Junction flyover and hour-long jams are not uncommon.

Construction of the bridge has been going on for over a year and it is high time the authorities sorted out the issue," said Powai resident Nikhil N.

The Other Side
Speaking to MiD DAY, MSRDC Chief Engineer Subhash Nage said, "More than 80 per cent work on the ROB is complete and we have already sent a letter to the Central Railway asking for permission to carry out further construction as the bridge passes over the railway line. We are confident that the railways will give us permission soon and the bridge will be completed in two months after that."