Gokhale Bridge closure: All alternative routes get jammed on Day 1

The Gokhale Road bridge which is a crucial connector between Andheri East and West was shut for traffic from midnight on Sunday Predictably all alternative routes were chockablock on Monday morningA journey that used to take 30 minutes now takes a full 50 minutes to an hourAlso read Nightmare begins Gokhale bridge to be shut from todaySV Road Heavy traffic on SV Road as motorists head for Captain Vinayak Gore Flyover on Monday PicPradeep DhivarFood delivery executives and auto rickshaw drivers have raised concerns about losing income because of the congestionThe traffic police had suggested six alternative routes but only two of them areclosest for motorists travelling from the east to the westmdashAndheri subway and Captain Vinayak Gore Flyover in Vile ParleCommuters complained of heavy traffic jams at the Andheri subway on Monday PicAnurag AhireMeanwhile BEST bus numbers 389 and 308 ply from New Nagardas Marg which is the approach road to Andheri subway With the Gokhale bridgersquos traffic being diverted to this route there was a huge traffic jam on Monday Requesting anonymity the bus driver said it took them more than 30 minutes to travel the distance which is usually covered in 1015 minutesThe executives of appbased food delivery providers were among the hundreds of people affected by the traffic chaos Hanumant Shinde who delivers food to Vile Parle Andheri and Jogeshwari was stuck in a jam at Andheri subway for more than 30 minutes ldquoCustomers get angry if the delivery is delayed and this affects our ratings Moreover due to the traffic congestion I am making fewer deliveries today compared to other days If this persists our income would be affectedrdquoHanumant Shinde Sajid Sheikh Santosh Wankhade Lallan SinghSajid Sheikh another delivery executive who travelled via Captain Vinayak Gore Flyover on other days said ldquoIt usually takes just 1012 minutes to cross this bridge But today it has taken double the time Even though I was on a bike I faced difficulties navigating the bridgerdquoSantosh Wankhade who takes a BEST bus to travel to Andheri East via the subway decided to walk to work on Monday after ldquoseeing endless traffic jams in the morningrdquoAuto rickshaw driver Lallan Singh fears losing business now as people are hesitant to hire autos fearing the meter would skyrocket because of long traffic jams ldquoCommuters are avoiding taking auto rickshaws because of the traffic congestion It usually takes 15 minutes to cross the Captain Vinayak Gore Flyover Today it took twice as longrdquo said SinghldquoAll the internal roads around Andheri and Vile Parle are frozen because of traffic Very soon we will lose our incomerdquo said an auto rickshaw driverA commuter Ashish Nair travels to AndheriKurla Road from Versova in about 3545 minutes ldquoHowever todayrsquos journey took more than 1 hour and 30 minutes There is a need to deploy more traffic cops to manage the movement of vehicles properlyrdquo Nair said