Traffic movements were heavily affected on Wednesday morning due to heavy rains at several routes in the city including the primary connectors like Western Express Highway (WEH) and Eastern Express Highway (EEH).
It started mainly from the WEH near the Andheri Flyover where traffic was halted for more than an hour due to a sudden VIP movement. The VIP movement along with heavy rains lashing caused trouble for office goers and given it was peak hours’ time, the trouble doubled for them. According to traffic officials, they halted the traffic “for some time” to let the VIP vehicle pass by.
Motorists, Ambulance stuck in traffic on WEH
However, as per motorists, the waiting time was almost 55 minutes to 1 hour. An ambulance was also reportedly stuck in the which was not allowed to pass due to VIP movement. The traffic accumulated at the Andheri flyover affected traffic elsewhere – mostly from Jogeshwari - Andheri – Parle – Santacruz areas, including the Vakola signal and Vile Parle flyover. It also extended towards the Airport Road where motorists were already struggling due to heavy rains, water logging and bad condition of the roads.
“The traffic was humongous, not your daily WEH traffic. Anyway, WEH is overcrowded, with little to no traffic management and on top of all of this, they halted the traffic for a good one hour for VIP movement! All these plus heavy rains and almost water-logged roads. It was so frustrating waiting for the traffic to clear but no one was taking any accountability for the actions and the consequences which were faced by us citizens,” exclaimed Vinayak Raju, a motorist, travelling from Jogeshwari to South Mumbai for work.
Ambulance not allowed to go through by cops
Meanwhile, several citizens pointed out that an ambulance was waiting in the traffic but was not allowed by the cops. “The ambulance driver was getting impatient, not sure if there was any emergency patient or if he was on his way to pick up a patient. He was trying to convince the cops but no respite,” said another motorist who was stuck at WEH in the morning.
Traffic authorities claim the traffic was back to normal movement by 11 in the morning.
Traffic bottleneck extends to Jogeshwari-Andheri-Vile Parle-Santacruz
Slow vehicular movements were reported at Saki Vihar Road from Chandivali towards Saki Naka junction – in Andheri. Traffic officials said they were on the spot and the ruckus was due to heavy rains lashing and a certain scooty that was parked near the signal which started the congestion.
Andheri subway closed due to waterlogging
The Andheri subway was closed due to water logging in the middle of the day. “Due to accumulation of 1.5 to 2 feet water logging, Andheri subway is closed down for vehicular movement,” said the MTP. The traffic was diverted to SV Road which was already struggling with traffic movements. After almost 2 hours, Andheri subway was thrown back open for traffic.
The entire southbound from Dahisar to Vakola was slow due to ongoing rains, said the Mumbai Traffic Police (MTP).
Ghatkopar traffic affected amid heavy rains and waterlogged roads
In the central suburbs of the city, traffic was reported to slow near Shreyas Talkies at Ghatkopar due to heavy rains and water-logged roads. At EEH, vehicles entering the city from Thane and beyond were stuck up for almost 55 minutes due to heavy rains, bad roads and disruptions created by barricades (for Metro works) and narrow roads. Starting from Mulund, the traffic was reported slow, till Kanjurmarg.
The backlog traffic that was created here extended up to Powai. Even by evening on Wednesday, the traffic situation was not resolved. “There is a huge traffic jam between Powai Hiranandani Kingston to Kanjurmarg, especially at Powai Plaza and Kanjurmar ROB towards EEH and there are no traffic cops to handle the situation,” said a Twitter user. Similar situation was at the Tagore Nagar signal towards EEH, motorists blamed the traffic cops for mismanagement.
Mumbai Versova bridge entry jammed
The traffic situation near the Fountain Hotel, located at Ghodbunder Road connected to WEH was bad all day on Wednesday. The entry point of the Mumbai Versova bridge was heavily jammed and a huge queue of motorists had accumulated by Wednesday evening.
