Mumbai: The horror at Western Express Highway (WEH) continues for motorists. On Tuesday, the veteran actress and politician Hema Malini decided to ditch her car and opted for Mumbai Metro. However, it took her two hours to reach Dahisar via WEH.
On Thursday evening, an accident was reported near Samta Nagar after a vehicle overturned, leaving the motorists stuck for over three hours.
As per the Mumbai Traffic Police, a trailer collided with another container between Kandivali and Malad, which caused the traffic disruption. “Traffic was halted for little less than 45 minutes and brought back to normal soon,” said a traffic police officer.
Motorists counter police's claim
However, motorists who were on the spot, or on nearby routes had a different version to say. They said the accident happened in the afternoon and the mess was not cleared until night.
One of the motorists Mahesh Taurani said, “All the lanes up and down in Andheri were jammed at WEH. My vehicle was stuck for 3 and half hours.”
Vishal Jain, whose residential building in Kandivali faces the WEH, said, “The highway has never looked this bad. Vehicles were stuck for more than 3-4 hours, and the movement was inch to inch. It was getting so noisy with all the hours, and also air pollution. I tried to call traffic cops and even Mumbai Police, they just kept saying they are looking into it but nothing was happening.”
One of the Twitter users, who also witnessed the jam posted that it took him 90 to 120 minutes to cover a 9km distance in the western suburbs, via WEH, from Andheri to Goregaon.
Another user Kriti Dave wrote, “My uncle had to board a train from Borivalui station at 22.10pm and he left his house at 9pm which is at Goregaon East, on WEH. Since he is old (63) and had two bags with him, he took a rickshaw but he was stuck between Malad and Kandivali and missed his train.” According to her, it usually takes 20 to 30 minutes to reach the destination.
Some missed their flights
Some people claim to have missed their flights due to the massive jam on the highway. “Only in Mumbai, the financial capital, a minor accident on a flyover involving two trucks can screw up traffic for six hours and counting. I am sure even God does not want to drive on WEH to help us out,” wrote another Twitter user.
“Refuting police claims, motorist said that traffic continued to halt for over three hours.”
“One of the commuters said he took two hours to travel a distance of 9km via WEH from Andheri to Goregaon.”
“Some people claim to have missed their flights due to the massive jam on the highway.”
