5-hour jam on Mumbai-Nashik Highway and potholes lead to heated debate in assembly

Several members of the legislative assembly, including tourism development minister Jayakumar Rawal and Congress MLA Balasaheb Thorat on Wednesday sought answers from Speaker Rahul Narvekar as to why the repair work of potholes did not start on the highway where commuters are stuck for more than five hours due to traffic snarls

Thane: The issue of persistent heavy traffic jams on Mumbai-Nashik Highway rocked the monsoon session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for the second consecutive day.

Thane, India - July, 25, 2023: : Traffic is moving slowly on Nashik Bypass Highway due to potholes and traffic is seen at Majiwada , in Thane, in Mumbai, India, on,Tuesday, July, 25, 2023. ( Praful Gangurde / HT Photo )

Several members of the legislative assembly, including tourism development minister Jayakumar Rawal and Congress MLA Balasaheb Thorat on Wednesday sought answers from Speaker Rahul Narvekar as to why the repair work of potholes did not start on the highway where commuters are stuck for more than five hours due to traffic snarls.

The assembly witnessed a heated debate on Tuesday about the worsening situation on the Mumbai-Nashik Highway after which MLAs were told by the Speaker that pothole repair work will start soon.

For the past few days, the highway has been witnessing heavy traffic jams owing to heavy rainfall and potholed roads. As a result, Thane city saw packed roads. Commuters are being stranded for between 3 and 4 hours in traffic.

The 20km stretch from where commuters reach Mumbai in 30 minutes in the morning, is now witnessing a jam of over 5 hours.

There are several reasons for the traffic jam on the Mumbai-Nashik road and authorities are trying to solve the issues as soon as possible although it is really a long process and for now the commuters have been fed up spending around 5 hours on the road.

For the traffic police officials who are deployed on the stretch and commuters, passing through this highway has become a stressful journey.

A daily traveller, Kapil Gaur, 37, in the marketing business, said, “I travel to Padgha, Shahpur and Kalyan. The road stretch of Nashik highway from Thane is so bad that a 40-minute journey takes 3 hours daily. Several potholes, uneven roads and heavy vehicles created major problems. It is every year’s problem and authorities always fail to repair the road efficiently. It is really a bumpy ride for all the commuters. Also sometimes big vehicles who use these roads to reach godowns get stopped in between because of loss of fuels or some engine problem which leads to blocking the whole lane.”

Another traveller explained, “In the stretch of 8km from Ovali village to Tepacha pada, there are 17 cuts in dividers for as per every situated village which creates real troubles and unnecessary congestion to take right or left for their home. Also in some places the dividers are merged into road after contractors tried to fill the road he didn’t keep the gap. The big vehicles take advantage of it and directly tried to enter into cross lane. From Reliance fresh to Vadpe Chowky you will get several such places.”

DCP Vinay Rathod said, “The traffic congestion is happening due to bad conditions of roads and MSRDC and we have conducted meetings to solve the issue. Now there are two- two lanes on each side so MSRDC is trying to fill potholes with pavements on an immediate basis to solve the issue. We have assured to get 50 wardens to stop the vehicles who unnecessarily create traffic breaking dividers. Also MSRDC have provided us with 4 cranes to act immediately if any vehicles break down in between. Also, we have started giving one single dedicated right line for small vehicles and left for big vehicles because of which congestion near Mankoli where big vehicles take turns to reach godown side will not affect other vehicles.”