Mumbai: Commuters faced bumper-to-bumper traffic on Friday due to pothole-ridden roads, ill-management of traffic and VVIP movement.
The Haji Ali Circle (northbound) in South Mumbai was closed for hours, during the peak rush hours, owing to a VVIP movement, causing congestion and backlog thereafter. Traffic signals were closed and cops managed the traffic manually.
"It was office and school hours. These VIPs should consider these factors before visiting a place or passing through a route! Unnecessary inconvenience for all tax payers," said Rekha Jain, a motorist.
Meanwhile, in the suburbs, traffic movements were reported slower than usual at Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR), Western Express Highway (WEH) and Ghatkopar-Mankhurd Link Road due to reasons including rains, bad roads, backlog traffic and the absence of traffic cops.
"60 minutes to cross a 2km stretch near L&T Powai"
The slow movement at JVLR, which started in the morning, continued till Friday night. "It took 60 minutes to cross a 2km stretch near L&T Powai," said a motorist via Twitter.
Meanwhile, traffic cops told the Free Press Journal that the reason for slow traffic movement at JVLR, near Powai is the ongoing work starting from SEEPZ due to which a part of road is barricaded.
Western suburb's primary connector, WEH, too was jammed as usual. In the morning, Saji Vihar Road near Saki Naka junction was reported to be slow in traffic movement due to blocks of concrete being moved to the middle of the road. Extending the traffic, it started affecting the movement near Cigarette Factory signal, which eventually affected Sahar Road that connects to WEH. The same situation persisted in the evening as well after the Andheri subway was closed down for traffic movements due to water logging. While the subway was closed, traffic was diverted to Captain Gore road, and Vile Parle flyover. Traffic movements which were already slow due to heavy rains, further worsened due to the diversion blocking the entire WEH stretch up till Goregaon starting from Andheri flyover.
Saki Naka junction jammed again!
Motorists said that the waiting time, especially between Bandra to Vile Parle and Jogeshwari to Goregaon was more than 70 to 80 minutes. Similarly, Saki Naka junction was yet again jammed due to backlog traffic.
Meanwhile, due to faulty signalling systems, traffic chaos was reported at August Kranti Maidan stretch and MTNL Junction at Goregaon. Manual signaling was turned on at Eastern Express Highway near Bhandup Pumping Station Signal but it backfired as traffic situation was not being able to manage that caused traffic jams up to Mulund and also the stretch that connects to Airoli.
