A ride on Expressway 13 years on

LEVEL OF SERVICE

Traffic congestion on the e-way has increased tremendously. With each passing year, the number of vehicles plying on it keeps increasing, and the MSRDC plans to ease the vehicular woes.

When the e-way was completed, its level of service - a measure of the service quality depending upon the traffic, speed and density of vehicles on highways - was ‘A’ and ‘B’. But mor than a decade later, it has reached to the unacceptable level of ‘F’. (See Box #5)

As per the analysis by MSRDC done in 2013, the level of service at the Ghat section has touched ‘F’. The same situation afflicts the old highway between Dehu Road and Nigadi.

Level ‘A’ is the most desirable category: there is free flow of vehicles, with no possibility of traffic congestion unless it is created by some bottleneck. ‘F’ is the worst among the lot: there is breakdown of traffic flow and a vehicle needs repeated braking.

The other sections of both the highways have a level of service ranging between ‘C’ and ‘E’. 

“If such was the situation two years ago, it has further worsened now and will only deteriorate. And during the augmentation, motorists will face further problems. This is why a decision needs to be taken on an urgent basis to improve the condition of highways between Mumbai and Pune,” said an MSRDC official.

“Our desirable level of service is ‘B’ once our plan to increase the highway capacity is ready,” the official added.

In the coming years, additional road traffic is expected from Dighi Port, which will be operational later this year and is 50 km from the e-way. Additionally, the proposed Mumbai Trans Harbour Link between Sewri and Nhava-Sheva as well as Chakan airport will only multiply the vehicle count on the e-way.

AUGMENTATION PLAN 

The construction of the first phase of the expressway commenced on May 1, 2000. It included stretches between Kon–Adoshi and Valvan–Somathane. Later on, work began on the second phase, between Khandala–Valvan and Somathane-Kiwale. Under the third phase, the Kalamboli to Kon section was thrown open for motorists. The last and fourth phase included the inauguration of the flyover at Kiwale on February 7, 2003.

In early 2011, the MSRDC started planning the e-way's augmentation. But the plan is still on paper. However, the project cost has shot up almost twofold in the meantime, that is, from Rs3,600 crore to over Rs7,000 crore.

Between 2002 and April 2005 the work for the e-way's maintenance was being done by MSRDC. Thereafter, for a duration of 15 years, the maintenance was handed over to M/s Ideal Road Builder (IRB) Infrastructure for Rs918 crore starting from September 2005. “The toll period ends in 2019 (August 8),” said Eknath Shinde, chairman of MSRDC and minister for public works department (Public Undertaking).

“Soon a tender will be floated to undertake augmentation of the e-way and the old highway under the build-operate-transfer basis,” added Shinde. This would mean that toll collection will continue till the year 2030, the deadline set by the union government permitting MSRDC to collect toll. The funds so collected will finance the augmentation.

As per the plan, a lane would be added to each side (north and south) of the expressway as well as NH4, and a link of close to 10-km between Khalapur toll plaza and Kusgaon will be created. Thus, the old highway will become a six-lane (3+3) highway, whereas the expressway will be of eight (4+4) lanes.

The old highway will also see multiple flyovers come up at the junctions where there are diversions for any village. Such junctions are accident-prone locations on NH4.

At the moment, both the highways merge between Khandala and Lonavala, thus creating the need for the link, currently missing, for a bypass the Ghat section.

This ‘missing link’ will be a combination of two bridges, two tunnels at grade road, and interchanges at Khalapur and Kusgaon (Sinhgad Institute). The bridges will be of 810 metres and 865 metres, whereas the length of tunnels will be 1,620m and 7,765m. (See graphic)

Not only will this shorten the e-way commute by 6 km but it will also reduce the overall travel time.

Once the bid is awarded by the state to implement the augmentation plan, it will take four-and-a-half years for completion. But prior to that a few approvals are needed including that from the cabinet subcommittee on infrastructure and the union ministry for environment and forests.

ACCIDENTS

In under a decade, between January 2006 and June 2013, a total of 925 people have lost their lives on the expressway. Over 85% of the accidents have occurred due to human error and not because of the road's design.

If data of the last one-and-a-half years is also included, then the total number of fatalities crosses the 1,000 mark. 

As per the data compiled by the highway police, between January 2006 and August 2014 there were a total of 14,186 accidents of which 12,158 or 85.71% were due to human error; 2,019 or 14.23% were due to mechanical issues; and just 9 or 0.06% were due to factors involving neither human nor mechanical problems.

Another analysis of the mishaps shows that the 14,186 accidents left 573 individuals in critical condition, 2,473 received major injuries, while 5,994 victims suffered minor injuries.

The human errors include motorists dashing cars into parked vehicles, drowsy drivers, erroneous overtaking and turning, losing control of the vehicle, or sudden braking. The mechanical issues includes tyre bursts, brake failures, fire in vehicle, skidding, and glitches in machinery. 

In the past, accidents have also been caused by other reasons such as animals straying to the middle of the road, or cars swerving out of control due to boulders. 

Statistics (see box #6) show that the number of accidents was increasing steadily from 2009 to 2012, but dipped after that. 

Authorities have chalked out measures for road safety, but many continue to remain on paper.

TRAUMA CARE CENTRE & AIR AMBULANCE

Barring setting up of medical equipment, the Trauma Care Centre at Ozarde on the e-way  will be ready in a month’s time. This will be the first centre to provide immediate treatment to e-way mishap victims. Three more such centres will be established over the coming years.

Medical treatment to accident victims will be provided free of cost at these facilities.

“Considering the number of accidents on ht expressway, MSRDC was considering establishing a Trauma Care Centre with an air ambulance facility to provide immediate specialist medical aid to accident victims during the Golden Hour, and thus save lives. To begin with, the trauma care centre and heliport for the air ambulance is being set up in Section III, which is between Lonavala to Kiwale Junction, on a pilot basis,” said Arun Deodhar, chief engineer, MSRDC.

“The entire highway needs a total of four trauma centres to take care of accident victims. At the moment, we are completing the first centre. At later dates, the other three would be established,” added Deodhar.

The work order for the construction of the first centre was given on November 19, 2012 and was scheduled to be completed in a period of two years, but this deadline has been overshot. MSRDC officials are hopeful that the work will be done within a month.

Once a private player shows interest in the project, another round of work for setting up of medical equipment will be undertaken.

AMBULANCES & LOCATIONS

In order to cater to accident victims on the e-way, four ambulances have been stationed at different locations on the 94.5-km road.

These ambulances have been provided and are operated by the toll collection agency (IRB), and they have been permanently located at Khalapur toll plaza, Kon village, Kusgaon village and Talegaon toll plaza.

The entire rescue operation is managed with directions from a control room established at the toll agency’s Operation and Maintenance Centre at Kusgaon.

The control room gets alerts from different sources like the highway police's patrol vehicles, accident victims calling up helpline numbers, passing motorists, etc.

The idea is to provide immediate medical help to the accident victim inside the ambulance in 10-20 minutes.

The expressway's toll free helpline number 98224 98224 not only caters to calls from victims but also from motorists in Mumbai and Pune seeking get traffic updates.

“I frequently visit Mumbai every weekend or fortnight depending upon my work. Just before starting the vehicle I check the traffic situation on the expressway. That’s how it helps me decide if I should opt for NH4 or avoid the road for rail travel,” said Murtuza Nalwala, a Pune resident.

On weekends and on Monday mornings, the e-way witnesses more traffic than usual in either direction. This results in bumper-to-bumper waits of up to half an hour at toll plazas.

Brifen wire rope safety fence 

It was the death of the two Marathi actors that led the authorities to install the Brifen wire fence to curb the rate of fatalities on the e-way, which has deep gorges on its side.

On December 23, 2012, Marathi actors Anand Abhyankar and Uday Pendse died after they met with an accident on the e-way as their vehicle crossed over into the adjacent lane and was hit by an oncoming car.

The incident - differing from many earlier ones because of the victims' profile - galvanised the authorities to take up some quick safety measures, one of which was to put up the Brifen rope - a steel wire fence - to keep vehicles from falling into the valley below, or careening into the opposite lanes.

On March 2013, the fence was put up on a pilot basis at a stretch of 5km from Kamshet Tunnel to Ozarde at an approximate cost of Rs88-90 lakh. Later, a span of 12km was covered by the high-quality steel rope. In all, the authorities zeroed in on 15 locations and put up the fence at an approximate cost of Rs4.94 crore. 

The wire was put up on the median as well as on the e-way fringes that drop into the gorges below at the Ghat section. 

A proposal from May 2013 says the MSRDC would install the Brifen wire on the entire 94.5-km-long expressway - an endeavour that would reportedly cost an Rs30 crore - but this hasn’t happened yet for want of funds. 

As an urgent measure, only priority areas have been covered which, according to the authorities, are accident-prone.

This is possibly why the e-way's accident rate dipped. In 2012, the total number of accidents had touched its peak of 2,001, but it deflated to 1,804 in 2013, and to 1,331 in 2014 until August.

CCTV CAMERAS

There was a lot of talk about curbing speeding on the expressway by monitoring vehicular movement through a network of nearly 100 CCTV cameras. But since May 2013, nothing has been done to realise the plan.

When Eknath Shinde, PWD minister and MSRDC chairman, was asked about the pending surveillance plan, he responded, “We would soon implement the surveillance project by getting high-speed CCTV cameras.”

Even bids were invited for the camera system to keep a check on rule-breakers and speedsters, but nothing has worked out so far. As a result, many lives have been lost.

The plan has been to install 84 high-speed CCTV cameras at the 94.5-km stretch, with special emphasis on accident-prone zones. These cameras will record the registration number, car model, vehicle type and speed, etc irrespective of fog or heavy rains, so that traffic offenders may be booked.

Two years ago, the estimated price for the surveillance project was Rs63.8 crore, but it has, not unusually, shot up. Even the related software had been designed by the department of science and technology under the University of Pune. 

High-speed cameras were mooted after speed guns failed to prove useful in booking offenders. Due to the high speed of cars, it became impractical and dangerous for police to halt speedsters, as it would result in sudden braking and the possibility of an accident.

In order to book drivers driving in a drunken state, 10 breathalysers were procured, but they are hardly being used by the police to bring down the accident figures.

CONCRETE PANELS

High traffic density and excessive wear and tear has chipped several cement-concrete panels of the road, necessitating road recasting.

On the entire expressway, there are around 1,20,000 cement-concrete panels or blocks.

On July 21, 2014, the MSRDC issued work order to M/s Jaihind Road Builder to recast in a year's time 694 cement-concrete panels that had got damaged. For the work, currently underway, the authority paid the firm Rs18.32 crore. Certain lanes of the road are blocked for the purpose, and cautionary boards are inadequate, slowing down vehicle speed.

Additionally, iron nets will be put up before monsoon over the hilly stretch of 6.50 km between Khopoli and Lonavala, to guard gainst landslides and subsequent damage of life and property and disruption of traffic.