Thousands of commuters faced hours-long delays on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway on Sunday as a massive traffic jam brought the Pune-bound corridor to a standstill.
The disruption was triggered by a surge in vehicles heading out on Sunday.
This was added to by visitors to various spots in the Western Ghats region near Lonavala during the monsoon.
Both the Pune-bound and the Mumbai-bound side saw severe congestion.
"Traffic jams on Mumbai-Pune expressway and serpentine queues at toll points, in spite of rules and law stating otherwise. There is no end to this suffering. Are we ever going to have some respite as tax-paying citizens?" wrote one user.
“Long jam at Pune Mumbai expressway first toll Talegaon. Still toll not being free to clear traffic.”
“Tremendous traffic at Mumbai Pune expressway toll plaza, what about free FASTag???” wrote another user.
Mumbai-Pune Expressway
The Mumbai-Pune Expressway is a vital corridor linking Mumbai with Pune, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, and tourist hotspots like Lonavala and Mahabaleshwar. On long weekends and public holidays, the route often sees traffic volumes far beyond its capacity, resulting in recurring delays and bottlenecks.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, an accident on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway near Khopoli claimed the lives of two women — a 17-year-old girl and a 30-year-old woman — after a Swift car was crushed between a bus and a trailer.
The Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) has helped reduce the number of accidents on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, which has witnessed fewer casualties in the last four months compared to the Samruddhi Expressway, where 55 deaths were reported, officials said.
As per the Maharashtra highway police's data sourced by PTI, the Mumbai-Pune Expressway witnessed 10 fatal crashes resulting in 11 casualties from January to April this year, while the Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway recorded 47 crashes, in which 55 people lost their lives during the same period.
