With the right-turn from Cadbury junction towards Mahalaxmi station now closed, does it make sense to brave the traffic or simply walk the 2-km distance to it; MiD DAY suggests, take Bus No 11
With the right-turn from Cadbury junction towards Mahalaxmi station now closed, does it make sense to brave the traffic or simply walk the 2-km distance to it; MiD DAY suggests, take Bus No 11
In an attempt to make life easier for motorists travelling between Peddar Road and Bandra, the Mumbai traffic police has made life considerably worse for those travelling from Peddar Road towards Tardeo, Mahalaxmi and beyond.
The Mumbai traffic police has closed the right-turn from the junction towards Mahalaxmi and Tardeo from Peddar Road from September 4.
Instead, there is now a dedicated lane from where one can take a U-turn around 100 metres ahead, near Lala Lajpat Rai College, for Mahalaxmi and Tardeo.
The step was taken to streamline traffic flow on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link.
When MiD DAY sent two reporters, one on foot and one on wheels from the Cadbury junction at Breach Candy to Mahalaxmi station, the difference was only 5 mins 25 seconds.
u00a0
In the race between man and machine, the latter won, but only just.
We bring you their experiences:
|
Somita in a Taxi |
 |
|
ON WHEELS: Somita Pal gets off the cab near Mahalaxmi station. |
5 minutes, 25 seconds
That's all she saved, at a price of Rs 30
Total time: 10 minutes
Getting taxis in the city for a short distance is never an easy task.
I was at Cadbury Junction at 6.15 pm. I waited for more than 10 minutes and was refused by five taxis. At 6.27 pm, I finally got a taxi to take me to Mahalaxmi station.
At 6.30 pm, I was at the Haji Ali junction. Though it's a stone's throwu00a0 away from Cadbury junction, it took me 3 minutes, as the right turn was barred. The taxi driver too complained of the problem.
I was lucky not to get stuck at the signal after taking a U-Turn from Lala Lajpat Rai college.
I crossed the Race Course in the next two minutes, but got stuck at the signal near Mahalaxmi station. Finally at 6.37 pm, I reached the station. While paying the driver, he said that I was lucky not to get stuck in the usual traffic.
Experts Speak...
"This step was to see that the north-bound traffic does not choke at Haji Ali junction and make things easier for motorists traveling to Bandra, Worli and airport, especially during peak hours.
Earlier, the northbound traffic used to get stuck at Haji Ali junction. With the present system, the northbound and southbound traffic is moving smoothly as the northbound traffic doesn't stop at the junction and goes straight. With this only the traffic towards Mahalaxmi will be affected, but not much," said a senior traffic cop.
Nitin Dossa, executive chairman, Western India Automobile Association, said, "We should allow Mumbai traffic police to experiment.
They are not here to harass the motorists. If the present experiment fails, the original will be restored. Presently, the idea behind having BWSL was getting defeated with the traffic getting stuck at Haji Ali junction.
u00a0
Many years back, when the Haji Ali junction was a circle, the then traffic joint commissioner PS Pasricha broke the circle to ease traffic congestion. People had criticized then too. But now things are fine."
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
