Commuters traveling on the Mumbai-Nashik Highway faced severe delays due to heavy vehicular traffic near Bhiwandi in Thane district on Wednesday morning, September 18. According to the video shared by the news agency ANI, vehicles were stranded for more than three hours in traffic.
An MSRDC officer told LokmatTimes.com, "Mankoli remains a key spot where traffic congestion persists even now. This morning, there was significant congestion on the Mumbai-Nashik Highway due to the sudden influx of heavy vehicles. During the Ganeshotsav period, heavy vehicles, including trucks and goods carriers, were prohibited from entering Thane city’s internal roads and were only allowed between 10 PM and 6 AM to ease traffic flow. Although the congestion was present since morning, it is now being cleared, and traffic officers are actively regulating it."
Videos shared on social media by passengers from the spot show a long line of vehicles, including cars and trucks stuck in traffic. Motorists expressed frustration at the lack of progress and the impact on their travel plans.
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Tagging to authorities, some travellers shared a video. One of the traveler wrote on X, "The traffic on Thane Bhiwandi Bye pass on Mumbai Nashik Highway is stopped for almost one hour with no traffic officials or attention to motorists woes. This continues Year on Year. Do we citizens deserve this?"
Another video shared by an X user named @akashj53 took to X to express his frustration, saying, "Huge traffic on Mumbai Nakhik highway. Do something. Every day we reach late because of this."
Earlier in August, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar expressed concern about Mumbai-Nashik Highway traffic and warned authorities to resolve the congestion issue on national highways, or he would suspend them if they failed.
Pawar directed officials from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and public representatives to jointly inspect the highway and prepare drone videos of the potholes and damaged patches.