[amit]

As per TV reports, iron holding on the sides is old and hence the area is now prone to frequent land slides. Where does the Rs. 195 toll collected from cars go? The reason given for toll collection is maintenance and neither the road is well maintained nor anything done for safety. Unfortunately, nothing will change and no one will be held responsible. In any other country, the agency in charge of this road would have been sued to bankruptcy for death's of 3 people!

[Akshay1234]

Was heading to Lonavla today, and the police were diverting cars off the expressway from the first exit itself i.e Panvel. Thought something major must have happened. Even the old road was totally blocked.

Its high time something permanent is done about that landslide area, this is getting a bit ridiculous now every monsoon.

[phamilyman]

landslides in the area today itself via twitter:

[Nilay]

Looks like their Rock anchoring system fails. It required constant monitoring and maintenance in each season. But after all it's in India and the whole country runs on "hope" / "chalta hai attitude".

[carfreak77]

Was heading towards Pune today. I started the expressway at around 12:10pm and immediately at the Panvel exit, there was a jam. Cops were diverting traffic onto the old road. The old road was completely jammed, after taking NH4 for a certain distance, there was another huge jam and many cars were taking a small left turn which was climbing a mountain (this was beyond the turning to rejoin the expressway). I think people were blindly following other cars. It turned out that tiny road up the mountain was a dead-end! This resulted in tons of cars taking U-turns on a single lane road with mud and slush on the side.
I got so fed-up due to the intense traffic that as soon as I reached NH4 again, I just took a U-turn to head back to Bombay. Again people were driving on the wrong side of the road so that caused another complete jam.
Also, there were some hooligans on the road who were misguiding cars and telling them to take the wrong turns thereby worsening the situation. I finally reached Panvel by 4:30pm. So for 4 hours I travelled about 40kms.
The reasoning about the iron rods that hold the rocks being old and rusted is completely absurd. If the authorities are aware of it being rusted, they should have had them replaced ages ago and not wait for a disaster like this to occur before acting. As another BHPian rightly said above, the toll we pay goes neither towards making the road better nor making the ghat section safer.

When the expressway was built in 2002, I had a concern about keeping the ghat section common to the expressway and NH4. My fears have come true multiple times. The most critical section where landslides are prone to occur is the one they choose to keep common; two separate routes should have been constructed at that time to account for one of the roads being closed should something go wrong.

Originally Posted by akshay1234

Was heading to Lonavla today, and the police were diverting cars off the expressway from the first exit itself i.e Panvel. Thought something major must have happened. Even the old road was totally blocked.

Its high time something permanent is done about that landslide area, this is getting a bit ridiculous now every monsoon.

Akshay, were you heading towards Lonavala today in your Skoda vRS by any chance?

[driverace]

Has this section been cleared yet?
I'm still seeing tweets about roads being jammed.

Taking the old Mumbai-Pune highway still makes us take the common road (with the risk) as mentioned above by carfreak77.
Still, I think, the old highway is kinda safer.
Any alternative to that!?

I have to travel to Mumbai from Pune, tomorrow evening/night - can't avoid the journey.


Thanks,

Ace.

[amit]

What is this story in media about 1 person dying because a car ran over him when he was trying to save the affected passengers from the car that got caught in the landslide (I am assuming it was the White Manza)? Did the car hit him because he probably ran across the expressway just as the landslide happened because after the landslide it's not possible for a car to drive past at high speed with stones & boulders strewn across the road. I wish the media was more clear in their reporting. The papers say it was a hit & run and no one knows what car it was.

Besides the mystery story above, I am surprised at the muted response in media over this incident. Ever since monsoons started this year, there have been frequent landslides and ultimately 3 people lost their lives. I was expecting the media to make more noise considering that toll is charged for maintenance of this road. It's not even the main headlines in Mumbai edition news papers. Seems the media is nowadays only concerned if high level central govt ministers or PM or some bollywood celebrity is involved in accidents.

This shows how seriously this country takes road safety. Honestly, I am surprised the people who got caught in the landslide were not arrested for rash & negligent driving!

[Dieseltuned]

Originally Posted by driverace

Has this section been cleared yet?
I'm still seeing tweets about roads being jammed.

Taking the old Mumbai-Pune highway still makes us take the common road (with the risk) as mentioned above by carfreak77.
Still, I think, the old highway is kinda safer.
Any alternative to that!?

I have to travel to Mumbai from Pune, tomorrow evening/night - can't avoid the journey.


Thanks,

Ace.

If road journey is a must you can use the Pune - Nasik - Mumbai route. or else quite frankly just ditch the road and board the train. The railways have arranged for special trains between Pune and Bombay to clear the rush.

Regards
Dieseltuned

[GTO]

I left from Lonavla at about 1430 hours yesterday. A little down the ghat and the traffic started. I could see that the expressway was completely jammed. Having heard about landslides just recently, I was hoping it wasn't the same again.

Took a detour and got on to the old Mumbai-Pune road. Spent about 2 hours snaking through traffic, although I heard much worse stories from people who stayed on the expressway. Finally got home at 1830 hours.

Got the news about the tragic death later in the afternoon. RIP.

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by carfreak77

Akshay, were you heading towards Lonavala today in your Skoda vRS by any chance?

Was in the X3. Reached Khopoli on the old road, and it was totally blocked there. Backtracked to Khalapur and joined the expressway leading back to Mumbai, since I remembered while getting on the old road people were driving on the wrong side and had a feeling the toll naka there would be totall jammed. Anyway the expressway was totally empty (obviously) and that was a good decision.

[S_U_N]

Screenshot of the Live Traffic from Google maps.
Taken yesterday evening. The blood red (or dark brown) indicates a jam.

[mannubhai]

I heard that expressway is being closed from 10am to 5pm till 31st to clear off the debris and move out loose rocks which might slide

Im planning to drive down from Bangalore to Mumbai on 31st. Should I stick to the expressway or look for alternatives ?

[S_U_N]

Originally Posted by mannubhai

I heard that expressway is being closed from 10am to 5pm till 31st to clear off the debris and move out loose rocks which might slide

Im planning to drive down from Bangalore to Mumbai on 31st. Should I stick to the expressway or look for alternatives ?

There are reports that local authorities have decided to make it single lane at the affected areas. So, traffic should keep moving.

Earlier there was rumor that the highway would be closed. That part is confirmed to be untrue.

[ghodlur]

Got this over Whatsapp. It seems the traffic curbing is only for the trucks. Except for the two weekends the traffic arrangements will be valid until 3rd August 2015 and is applicable for both the E-way as well as the old Mumbai Pune highway. In any case the authorities cannot afford to cut off Pune from Mumbai hence I am assuming that the public transportation would not be affected. Of course the traffic will crawl at snail's pace due to blocking of lane on the Pune carriageway.

I am scheduled for a team building even on the 30th July so will be relying on the BHPians who would comment on the road conditions and traffic arrangements on the stretch till Khandala where the majority of the works are expected to be carried out.

[driverace]

Guys,

I just returned from Mumbai (this morning 8AM).
The journey was fine.

We left at 8pm yesterday (had to pick up my brother from CSIA).
We reached CSIA (area) at around 1am (2-3 hours buffer kept for jams- converted into just waiting time)
Useless information *Me and my wife were playing Hill-climb-racing & facebook-facebook, respectively
Started from CSIA at 4:30AM & reached Hadapsar at 8 AM.

Road condition was good.
Some lanes on the road (just before the tunnel-where landslide has occured) were closed.
Also, be careful as you would experience waterfall-on-the-road (we did, yesterday & today also).

Better to stick to middle lane & keep speeds below regular speeds, kept otherwise.

Caution- while coming from CSIA to Pune (somewhere before VASHI toll booths), there are HORRIBLE potholes on the flyover.

Continuous rain Lonavla-Mumbai-Lonavla.

Travel safe,

Ace.