[dean5545]

For people travelling from Mumbai to Gujarat the Ghodbunder bridge near Fountain must be a place where they frequently spend 3+ hours especially on weekends.
The maximum time taken for me to reach home from Vasai ie 36km is 4 hours 20 minutes. This wasn't even the longest time I spent in traffic!

The longest time I spent in traffic was again at Ghodbunder but from Thane side in September last year. There was waist deep water due to heavy rains which smaller cars couldn't cross. I was returning from Ambernath after a bad meeting. I left Ambernath around 1pm reached Kasarwadavli around 2.30 and got stuck. I was stuck there from 2.30pm till 7.30pm. Whole 7.5 hours since I left from Ambernath and full 8 hours to cover around 75km. The fact that my mom kept calling me every half an hour to ask the status didn't help too!(I was alone)

I'm so tramautised by that jam that till today I haven't gone to Ambernath.

[landcruiser123]

As a student, haven't seen too much of high traffic.
Two instances which I've get annoyed by:
1. Arekere to KR Puram on a Friday evening in Banglore- took about 3 hours to do ~30km.
2. Crossing the I-405 in LA (San Diego bound) on a Friday afternoon. Took about 3 hours to drive from Northridge (NW LA) to Huntington Beach- a distance of about 60 miles. Did the next 90 odd miles in 75 minutes.

[Hayek]

I don’t know about the longest I have been in a traffic jam. But last night was among the slowest I have ever moved. Was coming home to Parel from Lower Parel - a distance of less than 1.2 km as the crow flies and 3 km via Elphinstone Road. Took me 1 hour and 20 minutes and that too because I lost my patience after 30 minutes and forced my way into the one lane that was barely moving. It’s truly amazing how everyone has forgotten about the Lower Parel station bridge which has been closed for over 3 months now. Have concluded that I will not attempt any more evening meetings in Lower Parel - would rather do an afternoon meeting and head back to BKC than face the aggravation of sitting in traffic forever.

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

Crossing the I-405 in LA (San Diego bound) on a Friday afternoon. Took about 3 hours to drive about 60 miles.

There ought to be a Team BHP rule against such posts that rub things in . I just wrote about driving at an average speed of 2 km per hour, and you crib about driving at 32 km per hour. That’s what I would call a super fast journey.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

As a student, haven't seen too much of high traffic.

My experience has been exact opposite. I have spent more time in gridlocks as a student in the 80s-90s taking buses than while working in the 2000s and 2010s. Technology and some experience has played a large part in avoiding this.

1. For my 8-10 km commute, any time more than 30 mins on Google Maps, I do not attempt it

2. This year's summer trip, was noticing the ETA to home rising even though I was driving in at about 80-90 kmph. Noticed a 30 minute blood red section and took an alternate from there.

3. Even in the no-car days. If I have to return home for festive season, I used to twiddle my thumbs with IRCTC at 8am on ARP day and get a train ticket booked I wouldn't dare to travel via road during any festive season.

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by Samba

Actually i prefer to take a detour & spend 2 hours more behind the wheel of a moving car rather than being stuck for an hour in a traffic jam! Am quite paranoid about traffic jams. Whenever i see a long que, i stop the car beforehand or generally try to take an 'U' turn and find an alternative route.

I must say, I am on the same boat, but at Vikramshila, Dalkola or Maldah, does one have a choice?

After driving from Guwahati, I got stuck at Dalkola ta 1 A.M, just imagine the trauma I must have gone through with family/kids.

Though it was less than 2 hours but that was the longest I have spent. Else, have been stuck in blockades but if there is no bridge, I always find a detour. Having a SUV with 4WD helps.

[Rahul Rao]

There are many of us here who are born in the 70's and bought our first cars in the mid 90's. In that era getting caught for 12 Hrs in a Mumbai to Pune traffic jam was not unheard off.



Rahul

[ajayclicks]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

But it's all history now. The bridge is complete towards both sides. Crossing this stretch is a breeze.

I might do another drive just to zip through that stretch now

[landcruiser123]

Originally Posted by Hayek

There ought to be a Team BHP rule against such posts that rub things in . I just wrote about driving at an average speed of 2 km per hour, and you crib about driving at 32 km per hour.

Things are relative in the first world. Compared to traffic in the Midwest, Bay Area was intimidating for me. LA was annoying. Trust me, it's not fun sitting on a freeway.

But yes, my driving is limited- so I'd never have experienced anything like what you've seen.

Originally Posted by narayans80

My experience has been exact opposite. I have spent more time in gridlocks as a student in the 80s-90s taking buses

My experiences were only in cars I was driving. I remember, there was a protest due to Cauvery river sharing agreement once and it took 2.5 hours to do 5km in a bus. The crossing involved the (in)famous Silk Board junction.

[SJM1214]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

Crossing Narmada via old bridge @ Bharuch/Ankleshwar - GJ, 2015

Ankleshwar GIDC is one of the biggest Industrial areas in Asia. During evening hours 1800 to 2200, all the employees and workers of Ankleshwar GIDC rush back to Bharuch. That used to be a major reason for traffic Jam at Golden Gate bridge. I got stuck at Golden Gate's jams many times for more than 3 hours.

However, nothing can match the notorious traffic jam zone of Rohtang to Manali. For me, the saga of getting stuck at Rohtang Pass started from 2009. Back in July 2009, We spent more than four hours on the slopes of Rohtang pass.







I strongly think that I have some special relation with traffic jams at Rohtang. Back in Oct 2016, I was caught in a jam at Solang Valley. It took us four hours to cover 3 km of Solang to Palchan.





That's not all. The Saga continued even during 2018. Last May(2018), we took seven big hours to cover 18km of Gulaba to Manali.

[HKap]

Western Express Highway. BKC to Goregaon has often taken over 3 hours during monsoons. The worst I've been in was 3 hours. BKC to Vakola on August 29th 2017. The streets were completely flooded. Had to return to office and it took us 3 hours to cover 3-4 kms. Left office later that night at 3:30 am only to find luxury cars like the 7 series and S classes abandoned in the middle of the road in BKC. Countless taxis broken down on the Western Express Highway too.

[RM Motorsports]

A couple of years back it was a long weekend and some impromptu plan happened to go to Lonavala from Mumbai. Left home at 11.00 am and reached destination around 3.30. Worst traffic jam I have ever come across. The ghat was packed and crawling at snails pace. My friend's Skoda Superb shut down for a while on the ghat due to overheated gearbox. By the time I reached the destination, my Chevy Beat was emitting burning smell due to over heating of clutch.

Decided to be very careful about traffic conditions when heading out of Mumbai during long weekends or festive holidays.

[rdst_1]

Originally Posted by SJM1214

However, nothing can match the notorious traffic jam zone of Rohtang to Manali.

This has to be one of the longest jams I have been stuck in as well. We were supposed to leave at 4AM from Manali for Rohtang. We got delayed and started at around 6. The taxi driver was already disgruntled and told us that the delay will be expensive. And he was right.
During the jam, we got out of the taxi and covered around 8-9 kms on foot and waited for the poor driver to reach us at the point where the jam cleared. It took him 4-5 hrs to cover that stretch. He refused to go beyond Marhi and it was probably one of the worst vacation we ever took as our mood got spoiled very badly that day. In hindsight, it wasn't the poor driver's fault but it would have been a much better experience if we had taken our own car instead as we would definitely have mustered on till Rohtang.

[N33raj]

Folks from Guwahati will remember the horror called the Saraighat bridge when the second bridge was not complete.
I have voted for 6+ hours sitting in a traffic jam as I have to travel to IITG for work. If you are very lucky, you will go thru that chicken neck without stopping at 15 km/h. If you are lucky, you will do 5km/h. If you are unlucky, you will be stuck for approx 60 mins (which used to be par for the course). If you are very unlucky, 3 hours.
Then comes the catastrophically bad ones with 6+ and I have had the rotten luck to sit through 3 of them. Distance to cover in total from office to IITG 28km. Chicken neck 3.5 km.

And now they are simply stuff for reminiscing in the winters over a bonfire and fermented liquids in tumblers. Ah those good old days.

Then there is my bi monthly commute to Kohima from Dimapur in Nagaland. Again, if lucky, 80km in 3 hours; if unlucky, 6 hours; if you have rotten luck, then you turn back and wait for the road to clear which can take days depending on the cause.

Finally, my other commute to Shillong Meghalaya. From office in Guwahati to Mawlai Mawiong takes me 1 hr 45 mins. From Mawlai to Gordon road Laitumkhrah takes 20 mins at best, 45 mins on average and 2+ hours on bad days. Distance to cover 10 km.

I have given up driving in Bangalore. I have my trusty steel and fibreglass horse (= Aviator scooter) for all short distance commutes limited to Jayanagar 4th block, JP nagar 2nd block, ISRO layout, Kathriguppe or anywhere else nearby from BSK 3rd stage where i know there is a back route to avoid signals and main roads. For everything else, there is good old BMTC and the robbers posing as cabbies.

I will not talk of Calcutta as I stay not far from the airport and my office there is also nearby so I walk to office and catch red eye flights to come and go.

Originally Posted by Hayek

There ought to be a Team BHP rule against such posts that rub things in . I just wrote about driving at an average speed of 2 km per hour, and you crib about driving at 32 km per hour.

Sir, you should come down to Guwahati. Imagine doing 2 km/h going uphill! My left knee does not need any sort of physiotherapy for recovering from torn ligaments. All i have to do is go out!

[Ashdel]

I had a painful memory of spending around 5.5 hours in world famous Delhi Gurgaon route.

It was back in July 2008 around 5 PM and it started raining heavily in Gurgaon. I left my office (right on NH8) around 7 PM and joined never ending jam with heavy rains still pouring with thunderstorm.

I just had to cover 30 KM distance from my office, but spent more than 5 hours on road. Cant even remember if i shifted to second gear at all.

After this incident, my office timings were dependent on weather updates

[rrsteer]

I remember being stranded for almost the full night in a massive traffic jam in Beas. It was, if I remember correctly, summer of 1990 and soon after floods had ravaged Punjab. The Beas river had burst open its banks and washed away the bridge on NH1. I would be studying in 3rd standard then.
But I have very happy and proud memories of the traffic jam. My dad - an engineer par excellence -, was also a superb crisis manager (as i think all good engineers potentially are, because they intuitively know the problem/ bottleneck). That night he voluntarily took the role of a traffic police and manned a piece of road that had been washed away and was proving to be a big bottle neck. He was soon joined by other volunteers and they ensured the smooth flow of traffic. He carried on with the task until morning.