Heavy rains resumed in the city and the suburbs, with cosy moods and pleasant winds! However, Mumbaikars, out on the road, battling city traffic experienced the ill-effect of the city monsoon, yet again.
As usual, the beginning of the day started with the news of the Andheri subway being closed due to waterlogging. One of the important routes for Andheri citizens is the subway, the domino effect of it closing down reflected on Swami Vivekanand (SV) Road which was jammed for over two hours, up until the subway was thrown open for traffic.
The domino effect continued on the Western Express Highway (WEH) in the first half of the day when major roads connected to WEH started to choke up. This was not only due to the Andheri subway, but the sudden waterlogging in parts thanks to the lashing of heavy rains. From Kalina-Vakola Flyover in Santacruz, Kalanagar Flyover in Bandra and the Sion-Bandra Link Road.
Further at Bandra-Kurla Complex, thanks to the closure of several roads due to the marriage ceremony of Anant Ambani-Radhika Merchant at the Jio World Convention Centre, Bandra’s traffic came to a standstill, for some hours. “The number of vehicles and pedestrian traffic was less than usual today (Friday) as many officers were told to provide work from home for the employees. The additional deployment of traffic personnel helped us prevent any major disruptions,” said a traffic official. The closure of Bharat Diamond Bourse Road (for the wedding) impacted movements at the adjoining Bandra Kurla Complex Road, G Block Road and the Trident Hotel Road. All the routes and others saw a heavy deployment of traffic police and city police personnel.
In the eastern suburbs, Chembur saw waterlogging, followed by parts of the Eastern Freeway between Chembur and Wadala. The moving traffic towards the south region crashed for hours. At Santacruz-Chembur Link Road, along with Hans Bhugra Marg, it was a bad day for traffic due to bad roads that slowed down the traffic. “The roads have got worse due to heavy rains,” said a traffic police official.
Rain or no rain, Lal Bahadur Shashtri Marg remained consistent with bad roads, the scrapped out roads for metro and road works, causing slowing down traffic at Bhandup, Nahur, Mulund, Airoli Link Road, etc.
Heavy pedestrian traffic continued to choke up Currey Road Bridge along with the Elphinstone Flyover. Dadar’s NC Kelkar Marg, Lower Parel’s Senapati Bapat Marg and Mahim’s Lady Jamshedji Road saw slow movement of traffic due to heavy rains and low visibility, traffic officials said.
In the south of Mumbai, SoBo, the Madame Cama Road, Maharshi Karve Road, and Tardeo Road along P D’Mello Road saw slow movements due to continuous rainfall throughout the day. “Going by the predictions by IMD, we have deployed extra traffic personnel (in the south region) to prevent traffic disruptions. Since it was a Friday, the evening hours usually see heavy input on south-bounds from the Worli side and western suburbs,” said an official. Talking about Worli, the Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan Road in Worli was jammed throughout the day on both its bounds.
The BEST bus services, too, were diverted elsewhere considering the traffic restrictions. It will continue till Sunday, said officials. BKC Avenue -3 was closed for vehicular traffic, diverting the vehicles via Citi Bank, MTNL. For the roads closed on Avenues 5 and 7, buses were diverted up to NSE Junction and then via Swavlamban Bhavan, Bharat Nagar up to Kurla.
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