'Golden hours' on Expressway for smooth traffic movement

To ease the movement of traffic on the busy Mumbai-Pune Expressway, Maharashtra Traffic police have introduced the concept of 'golden hours', under which multi-axle vehicles and containers will be barred from plying for a few hours on specific days.
This exercise will primarily benefit passenger and small vehicles.
"The time sharing concept known as 'golden hours' has been launched on an experimental basis. Under this, the stretch between Khalapur and Urse toll plaza on the Expressway will be closed for around fours hours for three-axle and multi-axle vehicles over the weekends," Additional Director General (Traffic) of Maharashtra, R K Padmanabhan, said here today.

Under this initiative, Pune-bound vehicles will be stopped between 5 pm and 8 pm on Fridays and between 8 am and 12 noon on Sundays. Similarly, vehicles coming towards Mumbai will be halted between 4 pm and 8 pm on Sundays and 6 am to 9 am on Mondays, he said.
Due to the increase in number of vehicles, the Expressway has been witnessing a rise in traffic jams as well as fatal accidents and this exercise is aimed at easing out the traffic.
According to Padmanabhan, although they have started implementing the exercise since the last two weeks, it will be enforced in a full fledged way from this week.

He said that the Traffic department staff will on the move in a vehicle on the Expressway to keep an eye on the vehicular movement and to see if anybody is violating the rules.

"If they find any traffic violation, they will provide details of the offending vehicles to the nearest check-post, which will then take action," Padmanabhan explained.
Thanking IAF officials, Akhilesh said this is the first
road in the country on which any aircraft can land and take off.
He, however, regretted that the chairman of UPEIDA Navneet Sehgal, who was associated with the project since the beginning, was not able to attend the inauguration because of an accident last week and cautioned people not to exceed driving limit of 100 km an hour on the expressway.

Attacking BJP, Akhilesh termed the party as 'chamatkari log'.
"Though today it is the issue of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes which is dominating the scene, they can spring any other issue as they have no work to project as their achievement," he said.
Interestingly, senior party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav who returned to the party fold last week, and state unit president of the party Shivpal Singh Yadav who had announced his expulsion, projected a united face in the ruling first family. Shivpal was also seen touching the feet of Ram Gopal on the dias.
"This road will not be used only for movement of traffic but in times of need (war times) when the ememey usually destroys airstrips, this expressway will also be used as airstrip," Ram Gopal said.

Senior minister Azam Khan and Shivpal also congratulated the chief minister and his government for the expressway.
Meanwhile, former chief minister Mayawati accused the ruling party of trying to rush the launch of the highway when even road signs had not been put up at all places.
"When I was UP Chief Minister, there were some flaws in the Noida Expressway...They said inaugurate it before polls but I refused to play with people's lives by inaugurating an incomplete expressway," she stated.