Motorists travelling to Thane and Nashik likely to face snarls along the Eastern Express highway; here's why

THANE: Mumbai motorists travelling to Thane and Nashik are likely to face snarls along the Eastern Express highway thanks to the diversion of heavy freight vehicles after the Thane bound lane of Mumbra bypass flyover was shut following major structural damage.
A part of road plaster on the Thane-bound lane of the arterial bypass caved in Thursday exposing the reinforcements on the flyover stretch towards the Kharegaon landing following which the public works department took up a temporary repair block and shut it for heavy vehicles. Resultantly, heavy vehicles were diverted from Shilphata to Thane via Mahape -Airoli and Kalyan Durgadi adding to the strain on these already congested roads.
"There was an increase in traffic on the Eastern Express highway from the Anand Nagar point due to diversion of heavy vehicles from the Mumbra bypass. The situation is likely to continue for the next few days till the PWD completes the repairs. We have deployed additional staff to streamline the flow," informed Balasaheb Patil, deputy police commissioner, Thane traffic.
Meanwhile, MLA and cabinet minister Jitendra Awhad instructed senior PWD officials in Thane, Friday, to submit a time-bound corrective action report. "We have surveyed the quantum of damages and are now taking up repair work. A detailed repair schedule of the entire road network is likely to be charted out soon," informed a PWD official requesting anonymity.
Activists meanwhile questioned the frequent damages reported on this arterial road on the Mumbai Pune route, constructed nearly two decades back, along the Parsik hill slopes as an alternative to skirt Mumbra suburbs.