Gokhale Bridge closure: Day-1 marked by traffic jams, travel delays, hesitant auto drivers

 

 

The bridge is a key connector between Andheri East and West, and despite a short duration spent on the preparation and alternate routes announced by the traffic department, the area was heavily congested on Monday morning

Mumbai: The Gokhale Bridge in Andheri, shut from Monday, led to heavy traffic jams in the alternate routes for East-West connectivity in the Andheri and areas in its periphery. Citizens complained of arriving late to work due to the jams, even as BEST buses were re-routed and Metro-1 became a desired mode of transport.

Last week, HT was the first to report that Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had written to Mumbai Traffic Police, asking for a closure of Gokhale Bridge, after a report submitted by SCG Consultancy drew attention to structural cracks in the bridge and corroded steel inside.

The bridge is a key connector between Andheri East and West, and despite a short duration spent on the preparation and alternate routes announced by the traffic department, the area was heavily congested on Monday morning. On Friday evening, Mumbai traffic police had issued a notification shutting Gokhale Bridge from Monday, providing six alternate routes. On an average, travelling from West to East, which usually takes 10 minutes increased to nearly an hour for many commuters.

The two nearest routes -- Vile Parle flyover and Andheri subway -- which are otherwise also congested, witnessed more jams.

The traffic police claimed that there were no major traffic jams reported in and around Andheri due to two reasons, “We had deployed extra manpower, including 60 officials from Sahar, Vakola, Santacruz and DN Nagar traffic police chowkies, and 30 wardens to manage traffic near the bridge. It also helped that there was much awareness among commuters already, through social media and news reports,” said Nitin Pawar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (traffic) West region.

Pawar said, among the four alternate routes for connecting West to East, the Andheri subway witnessed the maximum load, leading to traffic moving at a snail’s pace. “We have asked for 200 more wardens from the BMC to manage the volume of vehicles,” said a traffic police official.

Officials also observed, since Tuesday is a public holiday, many commuters may have taken a holiday on Monday which led to less volume of vehicles, compared to other working days. “We still have to analyse the traffic for at least 10 days to judge the impact of the bridge’s closure on traffic in the suburb,” added Pawar.

Officials warned of jams on peripheral roads connecting main roads to residential areas in Andheri and adjoining suburbs.

“The BMC needs to focus more on these roads on the periphery to facilitate easy travel – fill up potholes and repair the roads. Traffic police should ban illegal parking on road sides,” said Sudhir Badami, a traffic expert.

On Monday, autorickshaws were unwilling to ply from Andheri station on the west, towards Vile Parle due to traffic jams. Share autos were seen plying with more than three people at a time, because of the rush.

“If I go towards Vile Parle right now, I will be sitting in traffic jam for an hour and a ₹30 journey will cost ₹100 for commuters,” said an auto driver.

EOM

VOX-POP

 Suheil Merchant, Corporate Communications Professional

Travel Time using Gokhale Bridge: 20 minutes to reach office by road.

Travel Time after bridge shutting: Changed commute to Metro. Took 25 minutes to travel from Andheri West to Andheri East.

“I used to take an auto from Juhu Galli to Andheri East for work. Today onwards, I have decided to take a Metro. My home is closer by rickshaw from Andheri station but autos refuse the run from Andheri; so now I have to get down at DN Nagar Metro station and take a longer route using rickshaw,” said Merchant.

ravel Time using Gokhale Bridge: 10 minutes to reach office, from Andheri West to Andheri East by road.

Travel time after bridge shutting: 1 hour 20 minutes, using Vile Parle flyover.

“My home is right next to Gokhale Bridge. My commute time has increased by an hour and 10 minutes. As I am a frequent flyer, reaching the airport will be a challenge now. I will walk from east to west, instead of using my car, to save time. This is a nightmare. BMC should have planned better. Bridges are built in record time in other countries. Why not here? BMC has enough money to pay IIT-Bombay for approvals; why the hold-up,” said Talwar.

Travel time using Gokhale Bridge: 45 minutes to reach office from Andheri West to Andheri East.

Travel time after bridge shutting: 3 hours, using Andheri subway after multiple diversions.

“I live in Lokhandwala and my office is in Andheri East. I had no idea that the bridge was shut today and got stuck in traffic. This is an embarrassment for a financial capital of a country. Why couldn’t government send out cluster messages to citizens about the bridge shutting. Henceforth, I will leave from home before 8am to skip peak hour traffic or else it will take me hours to reach at work. I was delayed by over two hours on Monday morning,” said