Weekenders sigh as traffic clogs Mumbai-Pune highway

Mumbai: With so many people heading out of the city to enjoy the long Christmas weekend, bumper-to-bumper traffic was seen on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway for the second consecutive day on Sunday.

However, later in the day, state highway police officials said that vehicular traffic on the Expressway was back to normal after continuous traffic interruptions that started early Friday morning.

Much to the distress of merrymakers on their way out for mini-vacations to places such as Pune, Mahabaleshwar and Kolhapur, the travelling time was extended to at least six hours for four-hour long bus journeys.

Silveraj Chandran (45), a businessman who was travelling from Sanpada in Navi Mumbai to Lonavla for one such short vacation with his kids and wife said, “I left Sanpada at around 8 am and was stuck near Panvel for almost two hours. Usually, it takes me two hours to reach Lonavla!” He further added, “I am now dreading coming back on Tuesday. We will have to try and leave early in the morning as opposed to our initially plan to leave post lunch.”

Deepak Deoraj, deputy commissioner of police (operations) said, “We have tried to control the traffic and almost all our men are on the highway and particularly on spots that tend to see congestion.”

“The situation will not improve until Tuesday as the long weekend has creacted a havoc on the highway,” he added.

Adding to the discomfort of travellers, pollution too played a role in dampening their holiday spirits. The air quality index in Navi Mumbai fell to ‘very poor’ according to the research body SAFAR as the pollutant pm 2.5 was recorded at 305.

Matters had gone from bad to worse on the Expressway, officials said, after a container-truck toppled at Khandala ghat around 8 am on Saturday. The container-truck was set right by around 1.30 pm but it had caused traffic to slow down considerably by then, said an official. A few vehicles too had broken down on the highway, adding to the traffic.