'Driving through Juhu is a pain'

MUMBAI: Travelling during peak hours in and around Juhu has become worse over the past five years, say motorists and residents."When I started living herein 1982, residents had come together to fight for a fountain that stood at thecentre of JVPD circle. Due to development issues, the fountain had to go, but itled to an increase in traffic congestion. In the last five years, problems haveincreased to such an extent that during peak hours we have to park our vehicleson the other side and cross over to enter our society. It's only past midnight,when the roads are empty, that we drive our cars from the opposite side into oursociety,'' said Pankaj Shah, a Gulmohar Road resident.According tohim, the MMRDA's plans of laying paver blocks around the JVPD circle has onlyresulted in more jams as motorists slow down to avoid skidding and bumping thebottom of their vehicles to the broken road below.All roads leadingto the JVPD circle turn into bottlenecks.Senior inspector, GhanshyamDoiphode, D N Nagar traffic division said, "Twelve roads lead directly orindirectly to the JVPD circle. While Gurunanak Road, Gulmohur Road, New LinkRoad and P K Sawant Marg are connected directly to the JVPD circle; C DBarfiwala Lane, S V Road, V M Road, St Josephs Church Road, A B Nair Marg,Mhatre Road, Juhu Tara Road and Western Express Highway (WEH) connect indirectlyto the JVPD circle. With an addition of 400 cars daily into the city through theAndheri, Ghatkopar and Wadala RTOs, traffic woes are here to stay.According to Doiphode, the south-bound traffic is from 8.30 am to12.30 pm while the evening traffic worries start as soon as 5 pm and last till9.30 pm. Sometimes, congestion extends up to 11.30 pm.Similar is thecase with three other junctions that are important connections leading roadwaysto Juhu. They are Rajiv Gandhi Chowk (connecting Prof N S Phadke Marg viaandheri flyover, S V Road and C D Barfiwala Lane), K Mandal Chowk (connecting VM Road and Gulmohur Road outside NMIMS college) and the S V Road junction(connecting S V Road to V M Road, leading to Vile Parle station).V MRoad resident, Ashit Vora, said, "It's hell for at least four days in a week.Congestion in the morning is mainly because of pedestrians and college students.However, around noon and evenings, all the way till midnight, traffic jams areunbearable. Around 12.30 pm, vehicular and pedestrian traffic is at its peak.The situation remains the same till about 2 pm. Traffic begins to build up againaround 5 pm. This continues till about 10 pm. Not to mention the noise and airpollution, which affects our health."kinjal.shah@timesgroup.com