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Road rage of a different kind: Enjoy a bumpy ride

The heavy rain over the past one and a half months has severely damaged roads, especially the much-vaunted Eastern and Western Epress highways

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The heavy rains over the past one and a half months have severely damaged city's roads, especially the much-vaunted eastern and western express highways. To gauge the damage, DNA drove from CST to Dahisar through the Western Expressway and took the Eastern Express highway back.

Here's a jolt-by-jolt account.

CST to Parel: The P D'Mello Road that bypasses the crowd of the island city was chosen for the first phase of the trip. This road is completely concretised and has no potholes. But it had some rough edges where the manhole covers had been removed and replaced - the only blemish on an otherwise good stretch. At the D'Mello Road-Ambekar Marg junction, workers were tarring a pothole. At Lalbaug, we joined the arterial B R Ambedkar Road, which leads one out of the island city.

Parel to Dadar: At Parel, till Shindewadi in Dadar (E), there is a large stretch of loose pebbles and small potholes by the edge of the road. Motorists were finding it difficult to cross this stretch. Further on, at Khodadad circle, potholes made the DNA vehicle wobble. In Dadar, the only stretch of bad road encountered was on the L J Road before Mahim.

Dadar to Andheri: On the Western Express Highway, the typical monsoon bad roads began. A large stretch of road with loose gravels from Bandra to the Vakola flyover slowed down vehicles considerably. Large potholes under the Vakola flyover made motoring difficult. Even more difficult to navigate was a large stretch of damaged road at Vile Parle. So bad were the holes that motorists sometimes had to weave across lanes to avoid them, their vehicles rocking crazily as if nodding in agreement on the bad state of  the road.

Andheri to Dahisar: On this stretch of road smooth concretised sections alternate with broken asphalt ones.

The concretised sections lull the motorist into complacency. But the bumps give the spine a harrowing time.

In Jogeshwari, vehicles take the adjoining service road to avoid the bad section of the main road. But the service road also has potholes

 They are also in plenty at Goregaon off Bimbisar Nagar, and at the Aarey Colony junction.

The worst stretch of road encountered, however, was between Goregaon and Kandivali. It was impossible to accelerate the vehicle to speeds beyond a brisk walking pace. This stretch ends at the Thakur complex.

Heavy rains and heavy vehicles have pounded the road at the Dahisar octroi naka. The potholes here are puddles, some measuring nearly 15 feet in length.

Dahisar to Vikhroli: Doubling back to Jogeshwari, the DNA vehicle took the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road. Much has been written about its poor condition. The update is that even part of the rebuilt stretches has started breaking up.

Some of the paver blocks of the bridge on the JVLR have been dislodged, and the road remains bumpy. It made the ride tough till Powai, where newly concretised stretches brought some relief.

Vikhroli to Lower Parel: A mostly smooth ride to finish off an otherwise jarring journey. The Eastern Express highway was smooth from Vikhroli to Chembur.

Then came the congested Ambedkar Road, pitted at Sion circle and just before the King's Circle flyover.

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