Ongoing construction of Rs 287-crore Sahar Elevated Road brings traffic to a crawl; MMRDA says the infrastructure project will take another six months to complete
Ongoing construction of Rs 287-crore Sahar Elevated Road brings traffic to a crawl; MMRDA says the infrastructure project will take another six months to complete
The ongoing construction of Sahar Elevated Road, which was supposed to make the journey to Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport faster and smoother, has brought the airport-bound traffic to a crawl. The Rs 287-crore project, started by MMRDA in 2008, was supposed to be completed by May, but now it seems a distant dream. According to MMRDA officials, the project got delayed because of resettlement and rehabilitation issues. It will take another six months to complete work at the 2-km stretch. This means commuters, particularly fliers headed for the international airport, are in for more trouble. 
Chaos central: With no street lights and only a single operational lane,
commuters are often stranded for hours trying to get to the international
airport. Several fliers have missed their flights owing to the chaos.
Pic/Satyajit Desai
Take the case of Malad resident N Ganesh who was scheduled to board a Canada-bound flight yesterday. He had a harrowing time crossing the stretch on his way to the airport. Ganesh said, "Every time I come to the airport to board a flight, I use the Western Express Highway till Andheri and then take the Sahar Road to reach the airport. For the past one year, I have noticed that due to the construction of the Sahar Elevated Road, the stretch is heavily barricaded at some places, leaving space only for a single vehicle to pass at a time. It took me 25 minutes to reach the Sahar road from my residence in Malad and the same time was consumed covering the 200 m span of the stretch."
In order to get a better picture of the traffic chaos in the area, MiD DAY visited the stretch late on Wednesday night and early last morning. We found that the road going towards the airport, just ahead of Hyatt, was barricaded and the traffic on this road was moving at a snail's pace. Speaking to MiD DAY, traffic constable Raju Itkar, who was deployed at a junction on the stretch, said, "Today the traffic is at least moving. On most days there is bumper-to-bumper traffic as the width of the road has reduced because of the ongoing construction. The problem will continue at least until after the monsoon. Looking at prolonged traffic jams, we have requested MMRDA to provide security guards who could help us manage traffic."
Dyaneshwar Benke, a private security guard appointed by MMRDA to monitor traffic, said, "MMRDA has appointed three guards at every junction to ensure smooth flow of traffic on the stretch." Promod Shinde, who had come to see off his mother who was about to board a London-bound flight, said, "As my mother is a frequent flier, I am well aware of the traffic jam which takes place in the airport area because of the ongoing construction work of the elevated road. So we make it a point to leave our residence three hours before the scheduled departure of the flight. But those who are caught unawares in the traffic mess are bound to miss their flight. I feel that entry of heavy vehicles such as trucks and dumpers should be restricted in the area at least between 10 am and 4 pm."
In the past, there have been several instances where air passengers had to miss their flight after getting stuck in the traffic at the site of Sahar Elevated Road. Once completed the 2-km stretch will be turned into a six-lane road with four entry and two exit points. It will ease traffic congestion at Sahar Junction under the Andheri flyover and Sahar road.
The Other Side
Asked what measures they are taking to solve traffic chaos, MMRDA Joint Project Director Dilip Kawatkar said, "We will deploy more private security guards at various junctions. We will see to it that, wherever possible, the barricades are removed before the monsoon, so the road becomes wider and passengers reach the airport on time."
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