Mumbai traffic nightmare: SCLR jam leaves commuters stranded for hours

Traffic comes to a complete standstill on the Santacruz–Chembur Link Road after a piling rig overturned near Mankhurd, triggering massive congestion across routes. Pic/Vinod Kumar Menon

It started like any other workday evening. I left my office in Kalanagar, Bandra East, a little after 8 pm, expecting my usual one-and-a-half-hour drive to Kharghar. The stretch via BKC towards the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR) was smooth, and I settled into light traffic with music on the radio. But the moment I reached SCLR, everything came to a standstill.

At first, I assumed it was a routine jam. As minutes passed without movement, it was clear this was far worse. Vehicles of every kind - cars, bikes, and trucks - were completely stranded. I called the traffic control room, where an on-duty policeman said a piling rig had overturned on the Sion-Panvel Highway near Mankhurd, triggering massive congestion across connecting routes. He added that traffic personnel were working to clear the situation.

By around 9.50 pm, I reached the IOL junction after crossing the Chedda Nagar signal. The flyover towards Mankhurd was packed with vehicles and heavy trucks. Unsure of the route, I asked a woman traffic constable, who was struggling to manage the flow, whether to take the flyover or the road below. Her response was blunt: "Sab bandh hai… aap kahi se bhi jao, sab bandh hai."

What followed was exhausting. It took nearly an hour just to cross SCLR and hours more to inch past Chedda Nagar. Traffic police presence was sparse, and alternate routes were equally clogged.

Local residents from Shivaji Nagar, Govandi, Baiganwadi, and Mankhurd stepped in to help motorists navigate the chaos. Many commuters waited at bus stops as BEST buses failed to arrive. The situation raised a worrying question: how would ambulances or fire brigades respond in such gridlock?

It took nearly two hours, from 10 pm to midnight, to cover the Chedda Nagar-Mankhurd stretch, which usually takes minutes. By the time I reached home at 12.50 am, drained and dehydrated, it was a stark reminder not to take a routine commute for granted.