Motorists and commuters using the Western Express Highway in Mumbai got stuck in traffic jams for nearly four hours on Saturday. Flyers trying to reach the city airport were among those majorly impacted by the traffic jam.
Sources in the police department told The Indian Express that supporters of a newly inducted BJP minister and other politicians had arrived at the city airport on Saturday evening unannounced in nearly 500 vehicles to welcome them, thus causing a jam on the roads connecting the airport.
“This was not a pre-planned event, and we were not kept in the loop regarding this. The unannounced inflow of politicians’ supporters and their vehicles caused traffic jams near the airport, and later it led to long traffic jams on the northbound stretch of the Western Express Highway from Bandra to Goregaon. Goregaon to Andheri traffic flow was also impacted,” a senior police official said.
Motorists were seen frustrated and surprised at the same time, as it was not a weekday, and there was also no big public or political event lined up alongside the Western Express Highway.
On the Western Express Highway, Bandra, Kherwadi to Andheri and ahead, there were long traffic jams on both sides of the highway. The northbound stretch had comparatively longer jams with vehicles almost coming to a standstill at some places.
A police source said the BJP leader was supposed to arrive at the airport by 7 pm. His supporters in huge numbers arrived at the airport, but the leader could come out of the airport only after 9:30 pm. Because of this, his supporters waited on roads near the airport, and their vehicles did not move, leading to jams under Andheri Bridge. This also impacted both north- and south-bound vehicle flow under the Centaur Bridge and caused jams near Bahar Junction.
A motorist stuck in the jam said it took him more than two hours to reach the airport from Bandra, which is only 5 km away.
Many people got late in reaching the airport to catch their flights as their vehicle got stuck in the long jams.
Several motorists came out of their vehicles, curious to find out what exactly caused such an unexpected jam, that too on a weekend.
At certain points, many motorists were seen managing traffic jams so that their vehicles could pass.
Many citizens took to social media and expressed their anger over the ‘poor’ management by the traffic police.
Columnist Nisha Jamvwal posted on X, “@mumbaitraffic #Magdeburg SOS. What is the problem with the airport #WesternExpressHighway today at this moment? My friends have been stuck for the last two hours and 15 minutes at the same spot. Why must we have such trauma on a #saturdaynight?
Another X user, Durwas Rane, shared photos and videos of the traffic jams and posted, “Horrible traffic near Mumbai airport – Western Express Highway (standstill traffic southbound, very slow-moving traffic on the north side). No clue what the reason for this traffic was. #MumbaiTraffic #WEH.”
Political activist Brian D’Souza tagged the CM’s office, the Mumbai traffic police, and the police commissioner, and shared a video post on X with a message saying, “Condition of Western Express Highway. The car is not moving near Mumbai airport. People walking on the express highway to go home.”
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