The traffic police has also cautioned the Ganpati mandals and devotees, who will be part of the arrival and immersion procession of Ganesh idols, about a list of bridges that have become old and dangerous. (Representational / File)The northbound stretch of the Western Express Highway between Khar to Santacruz and again between Andheri to Jogeshwari in Mumbai witnessed heavy traffic jams from 4 pm Tuesday.
Besides the Western Express Highway, the traffic jam paralysed vehicular movement at the Haji Ali junction.
The traffic is moving at a snail’s pace at the visarjan (immersion) points near beaches like Shivaji Park and Girgaon and Juhu areas due to the seventh day of Ganpati immersion procession.
As per a traffic police circular, all 74 roads will be shut for vehicular traffic, 54 roads will have one-way vehicular traffic, heavy vehicles will be banned on 57 roads and parking restrictions will be on 114 places in the city. These restrictions will be in place on Tuesday and between 12 pm to 6 am on September 9.
The traffic police, however, clarified the above traffic restrictions will be implemented during the visarjan procession of Ganesh idols only if it is required.
The traffic police has also cautioned the Ganpati mandals and devotees, who will be part of the arrival and immersion procession of Ganesh idols, about a list of bridges that have become old and dangerous.
“All Ganesh devotees and mandals are informed that the bridges on the railways have become old and dangerous. Therefore, all devotees should take care,” a statement issued by the traffic police states.
These bridges are Curry road (overbridge), Arthur road (overbridge) and Chinchpokli (rail overbridge) where the weight should not be more than 16 tons at a time.
The loudspeakers should not be used on the bridge and celebrations must be done only after coming down the bridge and the procession must not stop on the bridge for a long time.
The other rail overbridges mentioned on the list are Ghatkopar bridge, Byculla bridge, Marine lines bridge, Sandhurst road bridge, French bridge, Kennedy bridge, Falkland bridge, Belasis bridge, Mahalaxmi bridge, Prabhadevi bridge and Dadar Tilak bridge.
The traffic police has placed barricades on roads to segregate the crowd from the vehicles to prevent any untoward incident. They have also set up five traffic police control rooms at important immersion places — Girgaon Chowpatty (beach), Shivaji Park Chowpatty, Juhu Chowpatty, Malad Malwani T junction and Ganesh Ghat, Powai.
Further, watch towers are being erected by the traffic police at strategic places to ensure smooth flow of traffic. They have also kept police cranes, BMC cranes and high-capacity cranes to remove the vehicles in case they break down creating a jam.