Holiday rush slows down traffic on Pune-Mumbai e-way

Traffic on the Pune-Mumbai expressway slowed significantly on February 19 due to holiday travel, with no major jams but lengthy queues reported.

PUNE: Traffic on the Pune-Mumbai expressway (e-way) moved at a slow pace for most of Thursday, February 19, as a surge in holiday travel led to heavy vehicular movement along the corridor. Authorities clarified that there was no major traffic jam but vehicles crawled along protracted stretches due to the sheer number of commuters heading out for the extended holiday including Shiv Jayanti followed by the weekend.

Traffic on the Pune-Mumbai expressway moved at a slow pace for most of Thursday. (HT)

Despite it being a weekday, the expressway witnessed traffic conditions typically seen during peak holiday weekends. Visuals doing the rounds of social media showed long queues of vehicles, particularly on the Mumbai-bound stretch, with cars lined up for several kilometres. In some instances, commuters were seen stepping out of their vehicles while waiting for the traffic to ease. Officials, however, maintained that traffic flow was continuous though significantly slower than usual.

Vikrant Deshmukh, superintendent of the highway safety patrol (HSP), Pune, attributed Thursday’s congestion to the holiday on account of Shiv Jayanti, marking the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. “There is no severe traffic jam on the expressway, but vehicles are moving slowly due to increased traffic volume. Many people are travelling because of the holiday combined with the weekend,” Deshmukh said.

Commuters caught in the slow-moving traffic described the situation as frustrating but manageable. “We left Pune in the morning, expecting normal weekday traffic, but it took us nearly double the usual time to cross Lonavala. The vehicles were barely moving for long stretches,” said Ashish Dhamale, a private sector employee travelling to Mumbai with his family.

Another commuter, Neha Sharma, who was heading toward Navi Mumbai, said, “It wasn’t a complete standstill, but the slow pace was exhausting. At one point, many people got out of their cars just to stretch their legs because we were stuck at the same spot for quite some time.”

The rush comes just days after a major disruption near the Adoshi tunnel, where a tanker carrying inflammable propylene gas overturned, resulting in traffic grinding to a halt for nearly one-and-a-half days. Following that incident, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) announced that it is working on a dedicated emergency traffic management plan to handle similar crises more effectively in the future.