This article is for anyone who resides in Andheri (W), accesses Andheri Station during morning and evening peak hours and is harassed and fed up of the long traffic jams. This post is for those:
1. Who stay in Yari Road, Seven Bungalows, Versova, SVP Nagar MHADA, RTO, Lokhandwala Complex, Oshiwara MHADA, Millat Nagar, Veera Desai, Indian Oil, Apna Bazaar and all the other areas covered sweepingly in between.
2. Those who use either of the buses mentioned below to access Andheri station in the morning and the evening or auto rickshaws or two wheelers or private cars.
Bus Nos. 249, 250, 251, 252, 266, 268, 235, 242, 259, 254. The turnaround time of these buses and consequently the ability to serve more people has been severely diminished due to this congestion.
3. The larger impact is not just on those staying in Andheri but anybody using S V Road.
The affected people in above points should easily be 1,00,000.
There is a clear solution if there is support for the plan I have proposed in the letter below to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and the Metropolitan Commissioner of Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). The letter and the attachment are in links below
I have not followed the matter as aggressively as I have suggested in the letter but will hopefully so in 2014. Any interest from other users of the same route will help. If you are one (or interested in resolving this) please do be in touch or drop a comment.
Picture gallery below will establish context with people who commute to Andheri station in the morning.
On a particularly jammed day I got down at the Sai Baba Temple / Bombay Cambridge School and decided to walk till the station taking photos of the conditions along the way.
All further images have to be in reference to this map. The green segment is how traffic used to flow on J P Road to join Andheri Station. Due to Metro 1 the traffic is now diverted and the complete red segment is how traffic from this segment flows. This is what is causing delays of 15-30 mins to the traffic during peak hours. A distance of 6kms can take 30-40 mins during peak hours.
The six white blocks are areas which I feel should be systematically redeveloped, respecting the Gaothan boundaries. The six blocks equal to 35 acres.
This is the state of the traffic at Caesar road on most mornings. The traffic which used to originally go straight at Rajkumar junction towards Ram Mandir for accessing Andheri Stn. now diverts left to come on Caesar Road.
Once in a while this happens, a motorist gets annoyed being in the jam, sees that the other side is empty and decides to go till Mayfair/Filmalaya Studio
…breaks out
…and gets going on the opposite side
At the Filmalaya Junction traffic coming from one of the side roads tries to join Caesar Road and things become a mess. A yellow Box at this junction would have been good!
This is the final leg on Caesar Road. S V Road signal is visible in the picture
Traffic joins S V Road
This is the situation on S V Road. All cars have to mandatory go slow because there is Andheri subway ahead and traffic comes out from it on S V Road. Not only those in Andheri but anybody in bus, car or autorickshaw traveling from Jogeshwari and beyond is impacted due to this planning mess.
Traffic pours in from Andheri subway as south bound traffic has to wait and speed is reduced to 2kmph
This is the situation on the other side of subway where there is enough capacity to make the traffic move at 10kmph
The buses from Andheri catchment were till 4 years back coming out from where the Metro pillar stands, thus completely avoiding the Andheri subway bottleneck
Where the buses used to come out now stands the Metro pillar. All the development on the left and right is 50-100 years old, the road can be easily widened and this can become a TOD cluster.
All of these old buildings will go one day, how we choose to redevelop Andheri station area will make all the difference in 2020.
I am an environmental activist based in Mumbai, who has been closely involved with numerous issues in Mumbai since the late 90s. Began activism in my early 20's. Deep philosophical interest in nature, sustainability and the purpose of human life since an early age.
In the decade of 2001-10 I played a pioneering role towards the conservation of mangrove forests in Mumbai co-founding Mangrove Society of India (Mumbai Chapter) and managing the Chapter for a decade.
Have worked on numerous urban issues in Mumbai aimed at improving the quality of life of Mumbai citizens. Solid waste management, tree cover, public transport, municipal budget and governance.
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One thought on “Solution to the traffic mess in Andheri(W) station area”
Rishi, thank you for taking up this with this issue with the concerned authorities. This has become a pain in the neck most people commuting between Andheri Station and 4 Bungalows, Lokhandwala etc. An overhaul of the area surrounding Andheri market, as you’ve suggested, seems to be the only long-term solution.
In the meantime, it might be a good idea to make the entire Ceasar road into a one-way (towards SV Road) since the traffic towards 4 Bungalows/Lokhandwala can get onto JP road either through Andheri market or Bhardawadi. This won’t improve the chaos on SV Road but it will atleast ease the bottleneck on Ceasar road.
but anybody in bus, car or autorickshaw traveling from Jogeshwari and beyond is impacted due to this planning mess.
Rishi, thank you for taking up this with this issue with the concerned authorities. This has become a pain in the neck most people commuting between Andheri Station and 4 Bungalows, Lokhandwala etc. An overhaul of the area surrounding Andheri market, as you’ve suggested, seems to be the only long-term solution.
In the meantime, it might be a good idea to make the entire Ceasar road into a one-way (towards SV Road) since the traffic towards 4 Bungalows/Lokhandwala can get onto JP road either through Andheri market or Bhardawadi. This won’t improve the chaos on SV Road but it will atleast ease the bottleneck on Ceasar road.