Extended weekend trip leads to traffic snarls on Mumbai-Pune Expressway

The weekend had barely begun when motorists travelling to Lonavala and Pune were caught in a massive traffic jam on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway late on Thursday night till early Friday morning. The state highway traffic police said that the bottleneck of traffic increased as a tanker had broken down on Pune-bound lane between Khandala and Lonavala. The state highway traffic police, however, said that traffic movement was smooth towards Mumbai including on the Mumbai-Goa Highway.

"Number of vehicles travelling during long weekends is already high on Expressway as people travel to Khandala, Lonavala, Pune and further to Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani for holidays. But on Thursday night, a tanker had broken down between Khandala and Lonavala leading to traffic," said a state highway traffic police official.

However, traffic movement in the city and the five entry and exit points of Mumbai functioned smoothly on Friday. A Mumbai traffic police official said, "Traffic had reduced substantially till Friday evening due to Holi unlike on Thursday evening."

The state government is currently in the process of commencing work for augmentation of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway that is being used by almost 50,000 vehicles everyday.