Three Years and One-and-a-half Kilometers Later

No sooner was the University Flyover opened for traffic than Sakal published an article on the problems still faced by the users of this road. If anyone expects a congratulatory note on the completion of this road, then great dismay is on its way. The planning and execution of the medley of flyovers on an otherwise good road has utterly failed to address any of the traffic woes.

First things first, it will be nice to get a report on the traffic patterns, as in 2003 and as predicted after five years and after ten years and so on, to necessitate the construction of the flyover. There are three flyovers on a stretch of about 4 kilometers, the first flyover near Agriculture College, one near E-Square and the final University flyover that divides the traffic into three different roads. The aim may have been to synchronize the traffic, which leads us to our first problem.

Shimla Office Intersection – Actually, this is only part of the problem. If you start from either Aundh Road or Baner Road or Pashan Road towards Shivaji Nagar, the three roads come together at the University circle (If you can tell me the official name of this circle, I will give you a pat on the back!). Even though the bulk of the traffic coming from opposite direction is now handled by the flyover, the traffic coming from Senapati Bapat Road and traffic going into the University still has to cross the oncoming traffic. Although the situation is better than earlier the attempt to get ahead of everyone and utter lack of discipline does not make it an easy ride. Traffic coming from three roads merges into a single road and the older problems persist. Since much money was spent on the construction, a little more innovative solution to the problems was expected (Right now, I am in complaining mode, not solutions mode).

Once you are past this adventure, the next comes directly at Shimla Office intersection. It must be noted that the two other flyovers – E-Square and Agriculture College make the ride smooth. But coming down from the second flyover, the sea of stopped vehicles is a test of patience.

The otherwise 3-lane wide road usually turns into 6 or sometimes 7 lane road, again each trying to squeeze ahead of the other. Nothing is more evident than the thoughtlessness. The PMT buses come from extreme left, since many don’t use the flyover and there is a bus stop just before the intersection. Many busses turn right and have to cross this seven-lane traffic, making the life of bus drivers and other vehicles very difficult. This also allows only a few cars to pass when the signal turns green as multiple busses attempt to cross the traffic and turn right. All the strategic advantage gained because of the flyovers is totally lost at this intersection.

There is another problem with the Agriculture College flyover, though in the opposite direction. If you turn left from FC Road and go straight beside the flyover, eventually all the lanes merge into University Road. However, this merge is so sudden that vehicles speeding down from the flyover and the vehicles merging from right are trying to defy laws of physics! It is nothing less than suicidal.

I did have some grand expectations from the University flyover. The lane markers are weird and the lane separation into three is equally weird. Besides, the gradient is considerable putting the less powerful vehicles under stress. The vehicles which come from Range Hills and want to go on to Senapati Bapat Road now have to cross three lanes going towards the flyover.

Another point to be noted is that the flyovers seem to have been constructed taking into consideration only the needs of those using it. All the roads beside the flyovers are too narrow and the merges into the main road are difficult, with lanes ending abruptly. Placement of the bus stops after the flyovers is also too close to the flyovers putting the speeding vehicles down the flyover, the merging vehicles and pedestrians waiting for bus into grave danger.

The only silver lining is that after enduring two months of heavy rains up till now, there is no pothole on the road.

So, what has been achieved after putting everyone through the duress of three years of construction? The 1 km that the University flyover covers does not justify the duress in my opinion.

Two Years and Four Kilometers Later

Now let me complain about Baner Road. The overall quality of the road is better. But the project management shows utter failure. Some sections of the road were closed to enable the completion of the University flyover. But the project execution was not expedited in this section. The walkways and some areas are still under construction, which is inexplicable, especially after getting four months of unbridled access to the road. Unfortunately, concrete curing may have taken bulk of time, but the areas still under construction do not depend on the concrete curing time. The placement of the YASHADA bus stop which is immediately after a bend in the road puts the stopped bus and moving cars behind the bus directly on collision course. After all the construction is complete and when lane markings are done, I am not confident that it will follow any standard practices to enable people to turn right. It's been close to two years and still the four kilometer stretch of the highway is not complete...

It makes me wonder, what if, there were no flyovers. Wouldn’t just wide well paved road (which it more or less was) with coordinated signals and proper lane marking not have helped? A lot of money has been spent on constructing this road structure. So may be answers to some of these questions are important. And while we wait for these answers, a gentle reminder about that traffic pattern report please.