Promise to turn Mumbai into Shanghai may turn on its head, traffic-wise.
Former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh’s assurance of turning Mumbai into Shanghai may soon become a reality, only in the negative sense. On the basis of the present situation, the traffic police estimate that Mumbai may soon face a great traffic jam like the one in China in August 2010.
A 100-km jam in Beijing had lasted almost a month at the time. Hundreds of trucks heading for Beijing on the Beijing-Tibet Expressway were at a standstill because of road works in the capital. Incidentally, Beijing and Shanghai have registered the maximum numbers of cars globally.
The Mumbai traffic police now fear that, with roads dug up all over Mumbai, there are stark symptoms that a similar situation is brewing up in the city. “With the increasing density of cars on roads, a scenario like the one in Shanghai does not seem to be impossible,” admitted additional police commissioner Brijesh Singh.
According to Singh, there are 892 cars per kilometre in Mumbai. The figure stood at 717 a couple of years ago. There are as many as 400-500 cars being registered each day at the three regional transport offices in Mumbai.
Indiscipline is also on the rise among motorists. “Every day, we have over 1,000 cases of signal jumping in the city. Ironically, traffic discipline, for which this city was once famous, has dipped drastically,” he said.
Joint commissioner of police (traffic) Vivek Phansalkar said, “On an average, there should be about 300 cars per kilometre with 20% free space between them.” He added that the traffic density also depends on the number of lanes. A five-lane road may accommodate 1,000 cars at a time with 200 cars fitting bumper-to-bumper in each lane. A single-lane road will not be able to bear such a burden.
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