India, Sept. 14 -- Commuters faced severe traffic snarls on Saturday as travel times across Central Mumbai surged following the closure of the over century-old Elphinstone Road Over Bridge (ROB) on Friday night. A routine 15-minute cab ride from Sion to Dadar stretched to over an hour, while the 45-minute drive from Navi Mumbai to Parel took nearly two hours.

The closure, part of the Sewri-Worli Elevated Connector project, aimed to replace the critical east-west link that passes over two railway stations, used by around 500,000-700,000 daily commuters. Public anger was palpable on roads and social media, with many blaming poor planning and mismanagement on the first day of the bridge's shutdown.

Chaos erupted on alternate routes and div...