Mumbai officegoers are back on roads, so are traffic snarls

As offices in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) reopened after almost three months on Monday, under the Maharashtra government’s third phase of ‘Mission Begin Again’ campaign amid the Covid-19 lockdown, all main roads saw traffic during morning and evening peak hours.

Suburban train services – Mumbai’s public transport lifeline – are yet to resume operations, which forced office-goers, traders and shopkeepers to use private vehicles to reach their workplaces.

With the increased traffic movement on the Western Express Highway (WEH), a major north-south arterial road connecting suburban Dahisar to Bandra, many motorists took to Twitter to appeal for opening of flyovers on the busy stretch. “Kherwadi Bandra flyover needs to be opened, a hell lot of traffic at the junction towards Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) and south Mumbai,” a commuter tweeted.

A commuter travelling on WEH tweeted, tagging the Mumbai Police: “Guys entire Western Express Highway’s northbound is free-flowing, but for the bridge at Vile Parle Domestic Airport shut ... For no reason! Jam created !!! Mumbai Traffic Police please look into our inconvenience!”

Another commuter tweeted: “As Mumbaikars hit the roads again, it’s time to wish us luck for a new start to this new world. But, unfortunately, our traffic remains the same.”

Traffic snarls were also reported along certain stretches of the Eastern Express Highway (EEH), a north-south artery of Mumbai that connects its eastern suburbs and Thane; Sion-Panvel highway, Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) Road and Swami Vivekanand (SV) Road.

By evening, the traffic on the Sion-Panvel highway was badly hit after a collision between a dumper truck and BEST bus. The bus was plying from Navi Mumbai to Wadala, when the accident took place around 5.15pm. The front portion of the left side of the bus was stuck to the dumper. A passenger was severely injured in the incident. Toll plazas at Mulund, Vashi, and Dahisar reported major traffic congestion even though the government has been encouraging the use of FASTag, an electronic and automated toll collection mechanism.