Mumbai: Mumbaikars experienced a miserable Friday due to multiple political rallies and the IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Super Giants at the Wankhede Stadium, leading to a major logjam at several places in the city.
On Friday morning, the Mumbai Traffic Police tweeted on ‘X’, previously known as Twitter, saying, “Due to public meeting at Shivaji Park, Dadar and MMRDA Ground in Bandra-Kurla Complex alongside an IPL match at Wankhede Stadium, traffic congestion is expected at Marine Drive, Eastern Express Highway, and Western Express Highway. Special traffic arrangements will be implemented from 10 am to midnight.”
Motorists, who were already out on the roads – travelling – complained about MTP’s late update for the day. The first tweet was at 9:19 am, and motorists said they were already out for the day for work by then. “If we knew the day was going to be this messy, we would have sought work from home or planned accordingly. The whole day was a disaster, and it got worse by evening at least at WEH,” said a motorist.
Major traffic was reported at EEH and WEH, and all routes adjoining these main highways. The logjam started at WEH in the afternoon, starting from Goregaon. This traffic further impacted the movement at Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg, SV Road in Andheri, and Linking Road in Bandra and Link Road in Andheri – which is connected to WEH. From LBS Marg, where adjoining routes like Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road, slowed the traffic further at EEH. Till Friday late at night, the traffic continued at WEH, especially at Milan Subway, Goregaon, and Aarey Road areas.
Motorists were stuck for over three hours on the Western Express Highway. A similar situation was witnessed at Byculla’s JJ Flyover where motorists were stuck for hours in the traffic mess. The Santacruz-Chembur Link Road also witnessed major traffic congestion, especially between Chembur and Kurla areas.
Traffic officials said the traffic would resume back to normal 'shortly' however, the Free Press Journal found that up until 9 pm, the congestion continued at WEH, EEH, JVLR, and the other routes in Mumbai. Meanwhile, Marine Drive which blocked some routes owing to the match at Wankhede, didn't face many traffic woes thanks to traffic police's strict bandobast.
