Traffic bottleneck near Chedda Nagar exit on EEH leaves motorists frustrated

A traffic jam seen near the Chedda Nagar exit of the Eastern Express Highway. PIC/BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Many who traverse the southbound lane of the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) - especially the patch near the Chedda Nagar exit - are familiar with how congested the spot gets during peak evening hours. The issue has arisen especially after the Mumbai Traffic Police, starting June 18, initiated a reverse lane protocol at the Nehru Nagar Bridge Chunabhatti to Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) connector, from 8 am to 10:30 am, which was also followed in the evenings to ease traffic.

Bottleneck created

This reverse lane practice is not the first in the city, and is seen every evening at the Goregaon patch of the Western Express Highway, where the initiative has worked smoothly. However, commuters using the EEH patch near the Chedda Nagar exit have said in recent weeks that though the reverse lane practice is helping with the traffic movement on the bridge, the exit has become a bottleneck, where commuters sit idle in their vehicles.

A commuter requesting anonymity

‘There was a day in the second week of July when I left from my office in BKC about 10 minutes early to reach home faster, but that did not happen. I was stuck in the reverse lane and reached home at my usual time. This was right at the EEH exit where I had spent all my time waiting for the bottleneck to clear up'

Police Speak

Rahul Bondre, traffic police inspector, Chembur
‘We start the reverse lane system based on the traffic situation at the BKC connector and Chunabhatti. It is used only on days of very heavy traffic flow. Sometimes commuters complain during moderate traffic and ask for the reverse lane practice, but it is not possible since that could lead to accidents as the opposite lane drivers might try to overtake when there is a gap between vehicles. We constantly look into ways to ease traffic movement'

Commuter Speak

Rohit Yadav, commuter
‘I travel the route daily on my bike from BKC to Chembur, and when the reverse lane concept was introduced, I thought it would cut my travel time short at least by a few minutes. But that hasn't happened because we get stuck at the Chedda Nagar exit. We see the traffic police working hard, manually diverting cars from the reverse lane into the correct lane, which involves a few minutes of waiting. The initiative is amazing, but maybe there can be another solution which will make everyone's lives easier'