The road is used by people who commute to their work places and colleges which is largely in Mahape, Kopar Khairne and the Millenium Park, off the Thane-Belapur road. The road is also used by the Maharashtra State Transport Corporation (MSRTC) buses which ply to Pune, Alibuag and Panvel.
The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) undertook the concretisation of Rs 111 crore project in 2006, which is of 13.8 km, due to increasing number of accidents on the road from Airoli to Turbhe. The road could not be used due to potholes and this was one of the main reason for traffic congestion on the road. The NMMC officials are now on the defensive. “These are thermal cracks and occur due to various reasons like variation in the temperature. The road is also not meant for heavy vehicles like trailers, but was being used when the Mumbra-by-pass road and the Thane Belapur road was under construction,” said NMMC engineer Mohan Dagavkar.
Interestingly, the Navi Mumbai police, especially, the Rabale police had done a continuous follow-up for completion of the road at the earliest as the road had become more accident prone due to traffic diversions. The NMMC has even failed to complete the work in the stipulated time. Despite this the contractor was given an extension twice. “But there are various reasons behind this like concretisation of two lanes was proposed after the work had already started, delay in inter-departmental permissions and shortage of cement across the country”.
Currently, litigation is pending as some of the hutments in Digha were removed,” added Dagavkar. The case of the Mumbra-by-pass road is more or less the same as the Thane Belapur road. The 5.41 km road which falls on the old Mumbai-Pune highway was built some six months ago. But the newly constructed road sank as heavy rains washed away the soil beneath the road.