Mumbai: SCLR fails to ease traffic, BMC’s WEH widening sparks new bottleneck

Since the opening of the SantacruzndashChembur Link Road SCLR extension on August 14 the route has been plagued by heavy congestion To tackle the bottleneck the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC has begun widening the northbound stretch of the Western Express Highway WEH by adding an extra lane near the Milan subwayService road jampacked with traffic on Friday nightldquoThis work is being done to relieve the congestion that happens daily during peak hoursrdquo said a BMC worker at the site requesting anonymity But locals say the project is backfiring Residents along the service road towards the Milan subway complain that while WEH is being widened the service road has been narrowed forcing vehicles and pedestrians into a tighter squeezeldquoWe canrsquot even cross the 10ft service road without worrying about being hit Traffic was already heavy but now from 5 pm to 9 pm itrsquos a nightmarerdquo said a woman who runs a shop along the stretchTraffic congestion on the service road during the peak hours on Thursday PicMadhulika Ram KavatturSCLR avoidedThe SCLR arm was meant to allow motorists to bypass traffic signals at Hans Bhugra MargndashWEH and Vakola junction But instead many still exit at Hans Bhugra Marg and proceed towards VakolaAdditional Municipal Commissioner Abhijit Bangar said ldquoThe widening of the WEH is happening not only because of the traffic congestion from the SCLR but because the Traffic department had informed us about the bottleneck that has been formed at the landing area of the SCLR since before its opening And now with more traffic from SCLR we hope that the widening will help with the congestionEnd of the SCLR ramp onto WEH towards Borivli vehicles from the service road block the exit while WEH widening work continues in the distance making the service narrower PicSatej ShindeThe newly widened 35metre lane will be used by traffic coming from below the Western Express Highway ie from Nehru Road This arrangement is expected to ease the lsquoscissor effectrsquo and allow vehicles on the service road to move smoothly in both directions mdash either towards the Milan subway via the service road or onto the main carriagewayrdquoAuto drivers say they rarely use the santacruzchembur link road extensionRavi Yadav auto driverlsquoWe get stuck while getting off it and now with WEH expansion and the service road narrowed itrsquos worse We sit for 15 minutes just to cover the 100metre patch to the Milan subwayrsquoSafik Ul auto driverlsquoIrsquove only taken the SCLR extension twice at noon when there was no traffic Otherwise itrsquos always jammed Widening WEH wonrsquot help at all Earlier the service road had a wider start before the WEH work began which allowed vehicles to move more easily even though it narrowed to just 10 ft in the middle But this new initiative has made the start of the road really narrow With multiple cars and autos flooding the area during peak hours and pedestrians trying to cross the cramped stretch it has become too difficult to travel that wayrsquoPedestrians at riskHead Constable Sunil Mohan Bhatt who manages traffic at the spotThe narrowed service road has also made it difficult for people to reach the pedestrian subway Without proper footpaths pedestrians are forced to walk on the road amid honking traffic Sources at the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority MMRDA said the agency has ldquonothing to dordquo with the widening work midday reached out to the BMC ward office and Additional Commissioner Abhijit Bangar for a response but received no reply before going to print