Torturous travel on Western Express Highway due to multiple roadblocks

Driving on the Western Express Highway has become a nightmare – thanks to multiple roadblocks starting right from Dahisar up to Bandra.

Such is the harrowing experience of the motorists that they say it will be better to take a detour via Eastern Express Highway.

For those residing in the distant suburbs like Dahisar, Mira Road and Bhayander driving to work place and back is a torturous travel.

"Repair work on south bound Dindoshi flyover has only made matters worse for us. As compared to earlier years, the average commuting time between Dahisar and central Mumbai has increased from one hour 15 minutes to one hour 45 minutes. Keeping Dindoshi bridge shut has further increased the woes, not to mention that resurfacing of the Malad flyover by Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation is not yet started," said Dhaval Mehta, a resident of Dahisar.

Whereas Mira Road resident Joel Fernandes, who drives daily to Dadar, said, "Henceforth, I will drive via Ghodbunder Road-Eastern Express Highway to save time. No work is underway on the Eastern Express Highway and is much better compared to the ones in western suburbs. Clearing Dahisar toll plaza itself takes away 15 minutes thereafter there are Malad, Dindoshi and Kherwadi flyovers."

Even the Sahar Elevated Road has ensured that the road width of the Western Express Highway permanently reduced only to become a bottleneck and results in waste of precious fossil fuel. There is bumper to bumper traffic between Jogeshwari and Vile Parle daily due to the bottleneck created by Sahar Elevated Road.

According to an MSRDC official, the repair work on south bound Dindoshi bridge will get completed by end of this month. Similarly even Kherwadi flyover's construction will be through by May 31. However, Malad flyover and the bottleneck at Vile Parle will be two hurdles for motorists for months to come.