Traffic in Mumbai comes to a crawl, cops divert you to new way

In the aftermath of the Andheri bridge collapse, police have released a list of route diversions that will be followed in case of traffic snarls or flooding

With traffic snarls bringing the city to a standstill on Wednesday, a day after a road overbridge in Andheri collapsed, the Mumbai traffic police came up with an elaborate plan to divert roads that witness waterlogging and congestion.

With the Gokhale Bridge shut at Andheri following its partial collapse, Sahar Road became a bottleneck for traffic moving between east and west parts of the suburb. (HT Photo)

The city has been receiving heavy showers from Monday. More than 40 roads were waterlogged on Wednesday, while some were diverted as the Andheri bridge was shut for repairs.

Motorists took to social media to complain about the mismanagement. “Pathetic control by traffic police. Took me 45 mins to reach a destination which is 10 mins away,” Ritika S tweeted. Susan wrote, “Mother of all traffic jams at MIDC in Andheri east.” Suhail Merchant tweeted, “Standstill traffic on Andheri Western Expressway. Too much of weight pressure on the bridge. Andheri is nightmarish today.”

Commuters said that rain for an hour, too, was sufficient to create chaos on almost all arterial roads as well as the western and eastern expressways. While many were delayed for work, some returned midway.

The traffic police said the list of 66 chronic waterlogging spots across the city has been prepared based on flooding reported in August last year. “An elaborate plan with maps has been prepared to resolve traffic jams this monsoon. According to the maps, the officials have practised decongesting chronic waterlogging spots,” said Amitesh Kumar, joint commissioner of police (traffic).

Apart from the traffic management through diversions, the police have also created a Whatsapp group, where Mumbaiites can get updates. “The citizens can get updates on 8454999999,” said Kumar.