Traffic Congestion- A Headache for Thanekars

Traffic has taken a toll on Thanekars from Ghodbunder road to Teen Hath Naka, traffic congestion is seen everywhere around the city. Office-goers and daily commuters are fed up of tagging TMC on twitter as no positive results are seen on the ground. Many senior citizens are avoiding to travel through buses and rickshaws, especially in the evening when the traffic jam is at its peak. Despite TMC's efforts to improve infrastructure and transportation, traffic has been a major headache for the citizens. The work of Mumbai Metro Green Line 4 has been going on for the last 4 years to achieve the last mile connectivity. In the Ghodbunder area, pillars are erected in the middle of the road. Half of the space is occupied by the metro pillars. It is expected that metro work will be completed till 2025.

Citizens are complaining that the Thane Metro work is very slow and there is 24/7 traffic on Ghodbunder road. There are constant faceoffs happening between commuters and rickshaw drivers as the citizens blame rickshaw drivers for increasing fares while rickshaw drivers cite the traffic issue and the metro work. Paresh, one of the daily commuters says, "My office is in Borivali and I leave my home 1 hour early so that I can escape from the traffic".  Sunil Ambolkar, one the rickshaw drivers from the Majiwada area told, "I have been driving a rickshaw for 40 years. There is a rise in the traffic from 6 pm onwards daily. We are fed up with the noise pollution caused due to traffic."

Another major reason for traffic jams is potholes and road construction work in the city.  Mohandas Tilwari, traffic warden, Gokul Nagar said, "Road construction contracts are given to the government as well as private firms. They start digging the roads but are not able to complete the work on time. Such delays are worsening the traffic problems." He also highlighted the problems faced by traffic police saying that we are trying our best to control traffic but the increasing number of vehicles and road construction work make the situation worse. He appealed to the citizens to avoid rash driving. Potholes are majorly seen during the monsoons, but there are few potholes in the Gokul Nagar area that need to be repaired.  Traffic dept promoted height barriers to curb entry of heavy vehicles. Thanekars were frustrated due to the nuisance caused by heavy vehicles. Hence barricades for heavy vehicles were put under place. For instance, an iron gate was put up near the Majiwada Bridge to prevent heavy vehicles from passing under it. On the contrary, Mumbai-bound vehicles were hit in the evening which in-turn created chaos and increased the traffic issue.

Lack of proper speed breakers have also added fuel to the traffic problem. Jitendra Tiwari, Head of R-Mall taxi stand in Thane says, "There is no speed breaker on the road near the peepal tree opposite Runwal Estate on Ghodbunder road. This causes frequent bike accidents which in turn leads to traffic problems." . It was a serious problem as many dogs have also lost their lives due to the accidents and missing speed breaker. There are many vehicles parked the wrong way in front of shops, encroaching the road. Wrong parking  has also elevated the traffic issue upto some extent. There are some instances of this visible at Thane station road. Citizens have to suffer this problem on a daily basis and sometimes it requires them to wait for 2 hours to travel from Thane station to Godbunder road. Traffic issue has not only negatively affected citizens but also traffic police who are facing  from noise and air pollution