Half a dozen choke points dot on signal-free SCLR

The latest choke point is at the landing point of the cable-stayed bridge on the WEH in Santacruz, where traffic from three roads converges—the new bridge, the WEH, and its service road.

Mumbai: After spending ₹1,104 crore to build it, the arterial Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) was supposed to provide seamless, signal-free vehicular movement between the eastern and western suburbs. The reality, however, is quite contradictory.

The latest choke point is at the landing point of the cable-stayed bridge on the WEH in Santacruz, where traffic from three roads converges—the new bridge, the WEH, and its service road. (Raju Shinde/HT Photo)

Days after the inauguration of the much hyped cable-stayed bridge extension of the SCLR onto the Western Express Highway (WEH), there are as many as half a dozen choke points (see graphic) along the entire 6.45-km corridor.

The latest choke point is at the landing point of the cable-stayed bridge on the WEH in Santacruz, where traffic from three roads converges—the new bridge, the WEH, and its service road.

Officials from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), which built the SCLR, attributed this to incomplete road widening work by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) at the bridge landing point, the Mumbai traffic police blamed the rumblers on the bridge. “Instead of slowing the speed of the vehicles, it was killing the speed due to which the vehicles had to stop, causing traffic jams,” said Anil Kumbhare, joint commissioner of police (traffic). Following discussions with other stakeholders, the rumblers were removed on Tuesday.

Suraj Chavhan, XX (age), had a similarly frustrating ordeal while travelling from Chembur to Goregaon. Traffic due to a bottleneck at Chheda Nagar in Chembur extended right up to SCLR. What should have been a 50-minute journey took 105 minutes.

“Despite the opening of a new extension bridge, my experience was worsened by numerous speed breakers installed all along the route. In addition, poor road conditions due to subpar patchy repair works has only made the situation terrible,” he said.