Dug-up roads and Christmas crowds cause massive traffic snarls, chaos in Bandra

Even those who wisely stayed in their houses were at the receiving end of the chaos. A resident of Pali Mala Road complained that he was subjected to constant honking from 7.30pm on Sunday, as the traffic was at a standstill and stayed jammed all night

Mumbai: The double whammy of roads dug up for various works and Christmas crowds led to inordinately heavy traffic in Bandra on Sunday and Monday. Residents who have been grappling with the situation for weeks were at the peak of frustration, with no space to walk or use their vehicles.

Dug-up roads and Christmas crowds cause massive traffic snarls, chaos in Bandra

Multiple residents complained of taking hours to get in and out of the suburb on account of traffic jams even as the rest of Mumbai was relatively traffic-free. “It took me 90 minutes to get from Bandra Reclamation to my house on Hill Road on Sunday night,” said Ava Tata. “The rest of my journey from Marine Lines was done in 15 minutes. Only Bandra was a mess.”

Tata explained that the traffic at Reclamation was at a total standstill, so she was forced to take another route. No traffic cops were around to improve the traffic flow. “Every bylane of Hill Road has been dug up,” she complained. “There’s work on water lines, gas pipelines, electricity lines, storm water drains, sewage lines and what have you. There were also a lot of heavy vehicles on the route.”

Lilian Pais, a frequent walker, listed some of the roads dug up. “There’s St Martins Road, Hill Road, Manuel Gonsalves Road and St Pauls Road,” she said. “The whole of Hill Road to Perry Road is jammed, as the traffic coming from the Bandra-Worli Sea Link is directed there. With hawkers encroaching on the footpaths, we have no option but to walk on the roads, skirting traffic.”

“The situation is terrible,” said Laila Khalid, a resident of Manuel Gonsalves Road, which has been dug up for storm water drains work and footpath concretisation.

“Almost every road is half or fully shut. To add to it, the events at the Reclamation promenade, which will go on till January 7, are bringing in a tremendous influx of traffic and pedestrians.”

The work on Khalid’s road has been at a standstill for three days. When she inquired with the engineer, she was told they were at an impasse and were thinking the work through. “It should have been planned better,” she said.

“Schools begin right after New Year’s, and the situation will be unmanageable.”

Even those who wisely stayed in their houses were at the receiving end of the chaos. A resident of Pali Mala Road complained that he was subjected to constant honking from 7.30pm on Sunday, as the traffic was at a standstill and stayed jammed all night. Pravin Padwal, joint commissioner of police (traffic), tried to explain away the situation by saying tenders were put out after the monsoon so work was bound to start in November and December.

“People should understand it is for their own future good,” he said.

Of the two significant roads in Bandra, the Lucky restaurant junction on S V Road sees a high volume of traffic. Padwal said this was due to the metro work and demolished skywalk, which had reduced the carriageway size and forced pedestrians to walk on the road which anyway faces a high load coming from Hill Road, S V Road and Bandra station. The other road linking Lilavati Hospital to Bandstand is beset with multiple ongoing works.

“As it is Christmas time, there’s a fair and two wonderlands set up,” said Padwal. “People from all over Mumbai are coming to the promenade at Bandra Reclamation, so it is inevitable there will be traffic. We are doing our best to manage it, as well as taking suggestions from ALMs.”