Mumbai: South Mumbai’s main entry point – P D’Mello Road is currently under tremendous traffic pressure created by the newly opened Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) aka the Atal Setu, along with the already existing Eastern Freeway. To relieve some amount of traffic, the Mumbai Traffic Police have temporarily diverted a handful of traffic towards Sardar Vallabhai Patel (SVP) Road from the Wadi Bundar for 30 days, as part of a ‘trial and error’ project.
According to traffic officials, in a day, since Atal Setu was opened, at least 30,000 vehicles negotiated via P D’Mello Road, which, as per them, is a traditional road with less width and plenty of trees on the sides of the road.
“Roads are narrow, there are huge trees which take up space on road – making it even narrower. There is parking on the sides, and several routes connected to it, altogether slowing down the traffic movement. On top of this, now, more vehicles are added to the route, not just from Atal Setu, but now also from the Coastal Road,” said a traffic official.
In the notification by MTP, on March 9, for the next 30 days, they have diverted the traffic to decongest P D’Mello Road. Vehicles that were entering P D’Mello Road from SVP Road – northbound), will now go via Wadibunder – taking a right turn from P D’Mello Road (northbound – slip road) – Mallet Port – ‘U’ Turn – back to P D’Mello Road on the southbound, slip road. Hence, the right turn from Wadibunder junction at SVP Road (northbound) to P D’Mello Road will be closed, temporarily.
“The effect of this diversion is yet to be known, we can say it clearly after 30 days as this is just a trial-and-error experiment to check if we can decongest P D’Mello. If successful, it can be continued, but if not, we will have to find something new,” said an official from Pydhunie traffic division.
However, experts suggest that an increase in traffic load at SVP can slow traffic movement at JJ flyover, JJ Junction, Maulana Shaukat Ali Road, Dongri, and even up to Girgaon Chowpatty.
Traffic officials also are pinning their hopes on the reopening of the Carnac Bridge. According to an expert, opening the Carnac bridge for traffic will help decongest major routes including SVP Road, P D’Mello Road, Bhendi Bazaar, Wadi Bunder Junction, Yusuf Meher Ali Road, etc.
