Mumbai: Eastern Express Highway gridlock leaves motorists stranded for hours

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While the time taken for our daily road commute to Mulund via the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) had already increased by 20-30 minutes after the Freeway extension work had commenced several months ago, Wednesday night was a particularly hellish experience for Thane-bound road commuters.

The spillover vehicular traffic on this stretch, possibly caused due to the tragic accident on the Sion-Panvel Road, made matters worse. The stretch from the Kanjur Marg-JVLR exit junction till the Nahur-Airoli Junction exit, which is roughly 4 kms, took us over 40 minutes to navigate.

The lit-up skyline of my suburb felt like a mirage as time stood still, and honking sounds had reached a crescent. Google Maps also didn't cooperate with a more accurate ‘delay' time algorithm. There was no communication en route: The absence of traffic personnel to direct the crawling traffic, or even a makeshift signboard to alert us of the mess ahead. Alternate routes, via LBS Marg, or the arterial lanes of the eastern sections of Kanjur Marg, Bhandup and Nahur could have easily come to our rescue.

To add to the melee, several trucks and cars had broken down. The lone bright spot? No ambulance sirens were heard as this nightmare was lived out. As we approached the Thane-bound side of the Nahur-Airoli flyover, the penny-drop moment occurred - the flyover had been shut for traffic! Talk of double trouble for the city's already-harried commuters.