Mumbai: Heavy rains worsened the city's situation, further choking roads that were already waterlogged from Wednesday evening.

According to the Mumbai Traffic Police, major traffic disruptions were reported on Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) Marg in Kurla and Ghatkopar. Being a low-lying area, Kurla experienced significant waterlogging, particularly near Sahara Hotel, Kurla Depot, and Phoenix Mall Road.

Police officials stated that traffic from the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) Connector was exacerbating the congestion in Kurla, leading to temporary route diversions as a precautionary measure.

In Ghatkopar, the road outside R City Mall was heavily jammed, with both motorists and pedestrians expressing frustration over the chaos, citing the absence of traffic police to manage the situation. “We couldn’t cross the road, vehicles were stuck for over 45 minutes, and yet no traffic police showed up. It was some auto drivers who stepped out to guide the vehicles and help resume traffic movement,” said Shikha Bakshi, a Ghatkopar resident and student.

Vishal Jaiswal, a motorist stuck in traffic on Ghatkopar’s LBS Marg for nearly 40 minutes, shared his frustration: “After finally crossing Ghatkopar, I reached Vikhroli (LBS), only to be stuck again for another 50 minutes. In total, it took me 2.5 hours to travel from Kurla to Vikhroli via LBS, a route that usually takes just 30 minutes.”

In South Mumbai (SoBo), police reported traffic disruptions at Bhatia Bagh, CSMT Junction, BMC Palika Road, GPO Junction, and Avatar Singh Bedi Chowk—areas that connect to P. D’Mello Road, leading towards the Eastern Freeway and Atal Setu Bridge (MTHL). Traffic was moving slowly due to the rain and waterlogging, police said, while low visibility added to the delays on the Freeway.

“Motorists tend to drive slowly in low-visibility conditions, which is recommended. As a result, traffic slows down, but once the rain stops, the movement picks up pace,” said a traffic police official from the Azad Maidan division.

Motorists in South Mumbai, particularly in areas like Cuffe Parade, Breach Candy, and Colaba, raised concerns about traffic signals being switched to manual mode. During heavy rains, VVIP movements, or traffic backlogs, the traffic police deactivate the automatic system and manage the signals manually from control rooms. The lights and timers are controlled based on the traffic flow at each junction.

However, motorists expressed frustration with this system. “At Breach Candy, they kept turning off the signal every 5-6 seconds, causing a huge traffic queue. The traffic personnel were standing in the rain, trying to manage the flow. Automatic signals are far more efficient than putting the police through this, which isn’t effective either,” said one motorist.

Similar situations were reported in Bandra and BKC. The Mumbai Traffic Police (MTP) tweeted, “Traffic on both southbound and northbound routes in Bandra and BKC is moving slowly due to heavy rains.” Office-goers, both in private and public vehicles, reported being stuck in BKC traffic for hours.

Sundarajan Pillai, a Tilak Nagar resident who works at an IT company in BKC, shared his experience: “I left the office around 6:45 pm, managed to board a bus by 7:15 pm, and by 8:05 pm, I was still stuck in BKC. I kept asking the bus conductor, but even he had no idea what was going on!”