The Santacruz–Chembur Link Road’s new extension arm that lands on the Western Express Highway is witnessing road-widening activity once again. After work on the northbound lane earlier, digging has now begun on the southbound side, with locals hoping it will ease congestion
The service road on the eastern side of WEH, looking seemingly spacious even with two-wheelers parked at one side on one side. PIC/MADHULIKA RAM KAVATTUR
Digging work has resumed along the Western Express Highway (WEH), this time on the opposite side of the road. The hotspot where the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road’s (SCLR) new extension arm lands on WEH is seeing activity again. Earlier, it was on the northbound lane, and this time it’s the southbound lane. While the previous expansion efforts had locals worrying about the bottleneck on the Milan Subway service road, the locals of the southbound side are optimistic that it will be beneficial for them.
The problem
During the first expansions on the northbound road, many locals had been unhappy with it, as it minimised the space that is available for those who want to drive/walk towards the Milan Subway. Currently, the subway service road sees high traffic during the morning and evening peak hours, which is managed by one or two traffic police officers who are stationed along the road. Though that is the case on the northbound side, those who are on the southbound side say that after the expansion of WEH, more people would be using the highway instead of the service road, thus relieving pressure along the route.
Local optimism
Prakash Rajwar, who works at a bike repair shop on the service road, said, “People only come onto the service road when they see that the traffic on WEH is high. If they expand the main road, it is only going to give commuters space to go through, and relieve congestion along the service road.”
This curved part of the WEH becomes a bottleneck as it turns to accommodate the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport’s runway 09/27. The bottleneck is one of the reasons why the WEH sees heavy congestion during peak hours, and it can be expected that this expansion on both sides would help commuters have an easier drive.
Anil Kumar, a local tempo driver, said, “The road is mostly used by those who want to go into the bylines along the service road, or by truck drivers who supply cargo or other materials to the airport. Once the road is widened, it will be easier for truck drivers and others to go from here, as those who are going towards Bandra will use the widened WEH.”
Autorickshaw driver Neeraj Kumar shared the same opinion, saying, “It will get easier for me to drive this way, as I take this road often to pick or drop passengers.”
A BMC worker who was at the spot told mid-day.com: “This work is very beneficial, and will help ease traffic. We are hoping to complete it in a few weeks.”
Official speak
mid-day.com contacted the roads department of BMC to get more details on how wide the road would be post the work, but there was no response till the time of going to press.
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