Owing to rains, it was an annoying experience for the commuters travelling via road on Wednesday. The motorists were worst hit on the Western Express Highway (WEH) as people were reportedly stuck for hours in the slow-moving vehicular traffic. Meanwhile, the potholed roads added insult to injury. The poor visibility that the commuters experienced on Tuesday was faced by them on Wednesday as well – during the morning hours.
Sharing her ordeal, Jogeshwari resident Rupali said, “It was absolutely terrible at the WEH in the morning when I was travelling. I had to reach somewhere urgently so I had opted for WEH, guessing I would reach earlier but because of the snail-paced traffic, I was stuck for over two and a half hours.”
Heavy traffic was witnessed in most ends of the WEH, including Goregaon, Jogeshwari, Malad, and Vakola. “It is taking two hours to reach from Goregaon to Vakola on the WEH, which is absurd. There are massive potholes on the Vakola flyover subway causing a traffic pile-up for many km,” said a Twitter user, tagging the Mumbai traffic police account. As per the traffic police, the reason for vehicular congestion from Vakola Bridge to Milan subway – on the southbound WEH – was ‘bad roads’.
Similarly, commuters from Malad and Aarey Colony, too, faced the same issues. “There was a heavy number of cars stuck together at the WEH in Kurar Village, Malad East when I reached the spot. I waited for more than one hour to reach my destination, which usually takes not more than 10-15 minutes,” said another commuter, who didn't wish to be named.
The Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR), which connects the WEH and the Eastern Express Highway, was jam-packed throughout the day. The traffic police tweeted, “South-bound vehicular movement is slow from Durga Nagar to JVLR Road,” without mentioning the reason for the same. However, for the slow vehicular movement at Shankarwadi Bus Stop in Jogeshwari, the traffic officials tweeted saying it was due to ‘bad roads’.
People travelling from Andheri, too, were saturated due to traffic congestion. “Andheri west to east takes an hour to cross. A distance of mere four km was covered in more than 60 minutes. What quality of life do we live in Mumbai,” asked another Twitter user tagging the traffic police. The same user, while asking to “maintain the WEH”, further said that there should be better traffic management in the city.
Even after repeated attempts, deputy commissioner of police (Traffic HQ) Raj Tilak Roushan didn't respond to any messages or calls.
