The work on Kopri bridge will begin soon, and it would be a nightmare for Mumbra residents, as there will be traffic diversion coupled with the usual monsoon congestion.
The notification to repair the Mumbra bypass is likely to come within the next two to three days and work on it may begin soon. The work was supposed to begin by April 16, but was postponed thrice because Thane rural traffic police failed to issue a notification about the same.
The work on Kopri bridge will begin soon, and it would be a nightmare for Mumbra residents, as there will be traffic diversion coupled with the usual monsoon congestion.
Last month, the state's public works department (PWD) decided to repair the Mumbra bypass, which is used by light vehicles plying from Dombivli, Kalyan, and Navi Mumbai to go to Thane and vice versa. Similarly, heavy vehicles coming from Gujarat and South India use it to travel to Thane, Navi Mumbai, JNPT.
Hence, to avoid any unforeseen circumstance in the coming months, the decision to begin the repair work and shut the bypass for two months was taken. This implies that vehicles will be diverted to other routes such as the one used by light vehicles, which is from Mumbra.
Residents are already dreading it as the repair work will coincide with the rains and the holy month of Ramzaan.
"Mumbra is anyway choc-a-bloc as there is only one road going through it. And with hawkers putting up stalls along the road during Ramzaan the congestion worsens," says Parvez Khan, a resident of Mumbra. "Service road repair work will leave vehicles with no option but to use this route," he adds.
Another resident, Tabrez Qureshi, who also runs an NGO — Traffic free Mumbra — which volunteers to manage traffic, said more vehicles plying on the Mumbra road will affect everybody. "Seven-thousand light vehicles take the Mumbra bypass daily; this was done to divert the traffic load on Mumbai-Pune highway," says Qureshi. "Our roads are already saturated with Mumbra traffic. How will they handle the extra 7000 vehicles?" he said.
He fears that this extra burden will also blow up into a law and order nightmare. "People staying in Mumbra are from the working class who leave their homes in the morning and return in the evening during peak hours. With the bypass traffic being diverted to this road, commute will become a huge trouble for them," he says. "People can adjust with such a situation for a day or two. But living with such a problem for two months is not possible."
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