Massive traffic jams stretching over kilometres at Juhu Circle were reported after a crane, deployed for the construction of Mumbai Metro Line 2B, broke down on Thursday morning during peak traffic hours. Traffic jams were also reported in Andheri West, leaving office-goers stuck for hours.

Images and videos from Juhu Circle showed long queues of cars waiting to pass a narrow passage as a crane lay motionless nearby. Commuters who normally take 20 to 30 minutes to complete their journeys reported spending nearly two hours on the road.

The breakdown came after a night of installing girders for the Metro 2B project. With the crane blocking part of the road, the northbound carriageway had been converted into a two-way road, sharply reducing the available road space.

The crane breakdown has caused heavy congestion in much of Andheri West

Traffic queues stretched for nearly 2 km on either side, with congestion spilling over into surrounding areas.

Officials from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) did not provide details of the breakdown, but officials expect to clear the crane off the road by the end of the day. They could not, however, give a firm assurance.

By 1.30 pm, part of the crane had been removed, allowing one lane of the southbound carriageway on Cosmopolitan Education Society Road to reopen.

Dhaval Shah, co-founder of the Andheri Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizens Association (LOCA), said the congestion had begun around 6 am.

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“The jam has been there since 6 am. Traffic is still logged up on both sides, although the opening of one lane may ease things a bit. My daughter left for school at 8 am and reached at 9:30 am in an auto, when it usually takes her 20 minutes.”

“The backlog of traffic is there from Juhu Circle up to the Four Bungalows signal and the DN Nagar Signal. People are taking the SV Road as an alternative, but that’s not equipped to handle so much traffic, so it is also jammed,” said Karan Jotwani, co-founder of LOCA.

Jotwani said his daughter took one and a half hours to reach school, compared with her usual 25-minute journey. “Many students came to Jamnabai Narsee School over an hour late due to the traffic. Several people going to the office reversed and went back home,” he said.