Heavy vehicular traffic continues on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway on Friday, May 1, due to the long weekend due to festivals and events, including Maharashtra Day, Labour Day and Buddha Purnima, leaving thousands of commuters stranded for hours. Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) MP Supriya Sule was stuck in a traffic jam for nearly two hours between the Amrutanjan Bridge and the Khopoli exit.
Long queues of vehicles were seen on the expressway, severely affecting passengers travelling towards Pune. Sule, who was stuck in the traffic, recorded a video from the spot and shared details of the situation.
According to the information, heavy vehicular jam reported near the ghat areas of Khalapur, where vehicles of multiple lanes merge into the six-lane expressway, causing major congestion. The ghat section is also known for landslides, sharp curves, and accidents during the monsoon.
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“We have been stuck here for two hours,” she said while interacting with fellow motorists. Several passengers expressed frustration, saying that despite starting their journey early in the morning, they had barely moved forward. The traffic congestion caused inconvenience to commuters, resulting in loss of time, fuel and patience.
Meanwhile, highway police initiated measures to ease the congestion. Traffic regulation efforts, including temporary lane blocks on the Pune-bound stretch, were implemented. However, officials faced difficulties in clearing the backlog due to the heavy volume of vehicles. Authorities believe the congestion was caused by a combination of the long weekend, increased tourist movement and consecutive holidays.
Speaking about the continuous issue of Mumbai-Pune Expressway congestion, Sule urged the Maharashtra government to take immediate steps to improve traffic management in the ghat section.
“I request the government to do something about the traffic jam here. Deploy additional police personnel in the ghat section if necessary. This is not only my issue but the issue of every citizen stuck here. This traffic congestion has become a daily problem,” she said.
Sule further said that the newly opened Mumbai-Pune Missing Link project on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway could help reduce congestion in the future. However, she pointed out that vehicles were currently stranded across the entire ghat stretch.
“Once vehicles begin climbing the ghat, it is impossible to predict how long it will take to cross it. Sometimes it takes 20 minutes, and sometimes even two hours. Our only request is that the police administration clear the traffic as soon as possible,” she added.
The traffic jam comes even as the long-awaited 13.3-km Missing Link project on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway will be launched by the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at 12.30 PM today. The new bypass is expected to reduce travel time by 30 minutes and ease congestion in the ghat section in the coming months.