Breakdowns, minor mishaps hold up rush hour traffic on WEH and EEH

A series of breakdowns and minor accidents turned the otherwise busy morning traffic on the two main arterial roads in the city - the Western Express Highway (WEH) and the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) – into a bumper-to-bumper crawl on Monday

A series of breakdowns and minor accidents turned the otherwise busy morning traffic on the two main arterial roads in the city - the Western Express Highway (WEH) and the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) – into a bumper-to-bumper crawl on Monday. Regular updates by the traffic police on their Twitter handle were not enough to pacify motorists and commuters who blamed the poor management.

Mumbai, India - October 17, 2022: Traffic jam on Eastern Express Highway near Kurla, in Mumbai, India, on Monday, October 17, 2022. (Photo by Pratik Chorge/Hindustan Times) (Pratik Chorge/HT PHOTO)

According to the traffic police control room, commuters were stuck for more than an hour at several places between Dadar and Thane on EEH and at Dahisar on WEH. Those travelling from Thane towards Mumbai were the worst-affected.

It all began when a trailer broke down at 8.15am at Bandra Kurla Complex connector (Chunabhatti south-bound). “The trailer was shifted from the middle of the road, but by then there had been a backlog which extended beyond Chunabhatti, thus blocking the entire EEH,” a traffic police officer said.

Nitin Pawar, deputy commissioner of police (traffic), said the trailer was headed south-bound but since the driver was new, he took the connector by mistake. “First, we had to remove the goods from the trailer before moving the vehicle using a crane. This exercise took us over two hours. The backlog went up to Vikhroli. Although we had cleared one lane, it still created a bottleneck.”

Five minutes later, a minor accident, involving a tempo, near Sahara Star Hotel junction at Vakola slowed down the traffic on WEH.

“Even if one vehicle breaks down, it leads to chaos as vehicles from five lanes have to pass through a single lane on Vakola bridge,” Pawar added.

Around 8.30am, south-bound traffic was reported to be slow on the Vasantrao Naik Highway at Kanjurmarg due to the backlog. At the same time, south-bound vehicles were reported to be moving at a snail’s pace near Mankhurd railway station. Making the matter worse, a minor accident occurred at 11.30am near Kulupwadi junction in Borivali (East), resulting in a hold-up on the road leading to WEH.

An hour later, at 12.30pm, the breakdown of a truck near Portuguese Church junction in Dadar hit the south-bound traffic. “If the traffic is slow on WEH and EEH, the entire city gets affected,” a traffic police officer said.

Commuters took to Twitter to express their disappointment and said the everyday traffic across the city had, of late, become a nightmare.

“The roads are bad; there is no traffic management; and there is illegal parking at road curves,” a Twitter user said.

Sanket Shelar, another user, said, “Eastern Express Highway is Jam since morning. For 2km road Bike take 1.5 hrs. what you expect how much time Ambulance and Fire brigade will take??? location - Ghakoper Eaat traffic division to Chunabhatti traffic division.”

What they say

Sheela Quadros, 47, an executive in corporate affairs at Edelweiss Financial, travels by Cityflo bus. “I left my home in Thane’s Hiranandani township at 9am and reached my office in Kalina after more than two hours. This is a delay of over an hour from the usual time. The traffic was so bad that it was at a standstill.”

Kedar Mehendale, 49, owns a digital agency. “I had gone to drop my child at school in Diamond Garden, Chembur. The route usually takes 5-10 minutes. However, I had to leave the auto, cross the road, and take another auto on an alternative road so that my kid reached on time. My wife who goes to BKC was late by one hour today to cover a distance that generally takes 20 minutes.”

Karthik Nadar, 29, is a business analyst. “I have been travelling on EEH between Chheda Nagar and Dadar TT for seven years. Today was extraordinary as vehicles were stranded on Chunabhatti-BKC connector, which extended till Amar Mahal junction.”

How the chaos unfolds

8.15am: A trailer breaks down at Bandra Kurla Complex connector (Chunabhatti), slowing down traffic on south-bound stretch of EEH

8.20am: A minor accident near Sahara Star Hotel junction at Vakola delays traffic on both north-bound and south-bound stretches of EEH

8.30am: Backlog caused by the two incidents results in a traffic hold-up right up to Mankhurd railway station

8.30am: BKC backlog leads to a traffic congestion on Vasantrao Naik Highway at Kanjurmarg

11.30am: An accident near Kulupwadi junction in Borivali (East) hits traffic on the road leading to WEH

12.30pm: Breakdown of a truck near Portuguese Church in Dadar slows down south-bound traffic