Potholes & road construction work double Nashik-Mumbai travel time

NASHIK: The onset of the monsoon has brought with it a fresh bout of frustrating delays for people travelling between Nashik and Mumbai. Travel time between these two cities, located 180km apart, is usually about four hours. Currently, it has doubled to eight hours.

Large potholes and ongoing road construction works have contributed to the reduced speed of vehicles on the busy stretch of the Mumbai-Agra highway between Nashik and Mumbai. Commuters said this is a recurring problem they face every rainy season. They, however, hope the situation will improve the next year.

According to senior MSRTC officials, buses are taking between 8 to 10 hours to cover the distance that usually takes them at most five hours. “The buses are getting stuck in traffic between Kasara and Bhiwandi. The distance generally covered in about one-and-a-half hours is now taking more than three hours,” said Kiran Bhosale, the divisional traffic officer. The situation is similar on the return journey.

Severe traffic congestion is seen at Padgha, Vasind and the Asangaon railway bridge, where construction works are on. Abhay Kulkarni, of the Nashik First organisation, said that his friend started from Mumbai at 7am on Sunday and reached Nashik only by 4pm. Harish Chaube, a safety and fire officer at Mahindra and Mahindra in Igatpuri, said there is a huge rush of vehicles at Pimpri Phata in Igatpuri and at Sinnar Phata in Ghoti, where flyover construction works have been going on for years. During the monsoon, the single-lane service road used by truckers and other motorists develops huge potholes, causing further traffic jams.

Officials of the highway police at Kasara said the vehicular traffic at Pimpri Phata is also affected by the flow of vehicles from Mumbai moving towards the Samruddhi Expressway for Shirdi, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Nagpur and other destinations, as well as vehicles coming from the Samruddhi to move towards Mumbai.

SP Mohan Dahikar, of the state highway police, said they have been communicating with the officials of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) regarding the flyover works at Vasind and near the Asangaon railway bridge. However, the service roads are not strong enough to handle the continuous flow of multi-axle vehicles. As a result, they develop huge potholes during the rainy season.

Senior NHAI officials acknowledged the problem at Vasind due to wrong-side driving by truck drivers, which has been resolved. They also said one side of the flyover at Pimpri Phata will be opened in the next few days, which is expected to reduce traffic congestion in the area.