Less than 24 hours after Union Minister Piyush Goyal opened the shut portion of Western Express Highway (WEH) above Akurli underpass, Kandivali East residents on Thursday woke up to another traffic hassle with the abrupt closure of the subway.
Chaos ensued for commuters, as the unexpected development caused traffic congestion on the routes accessing WEH and the railway station.
61-year-old Joyce, a Lokhandwala Township resident who travels to Kandivali West for work, said, “There was no prior information about the closure. Looking at the long queues, I took a sharing rickshaw till the highway. It took me half an hour to reach, after which I crossed the underpass and got another rickshaw till the station.”
Many travellers walked through the underpass to reach the station. She shared how local Whatsapp groups were flooded with confusion as the widening work had only been taking place from midnight to 6 am. Some also speculated if the work could take days or weeks.
45-year-old Jai Kataria, who worked from home on Thursday, expressed rage at the news since traffic congestion is already a major issue for Kandivali East. “It’s frustrating. There’s no transparency on the traffic situaiton. We think we have time to reach the office and suddenly we go out and we spend hours in commuting,” he says. “I understand the widening work is for our betterment. But at least inform in advance.”
Akurli Subway Widening Completion By Oct 2
Police Inspector Jagdish Bhopale clarified that the day-time closure was temporary. “Early in the morning, while the widening work was underway, the machine hit a corner which caused too many rocks to fall. The underpass was shut mainly to clear the debris,” he said.
Bhopale stated that the widening will be completed by October 2. He said, “Last phase of the work is underway. Only the felling of wall and concreting part is left. Monsoon won’t affect the progress. But it also depends on the MMRDA contractor if they finish it on time.”
The widening of the underpass had begun in September 2019. The project faced delay after a CNG pipeline was found at the site.
