The heavy rainfall slowed down the traffic on the Pune-Mumbai old highway and expressway on Tuesday.
Moreover, due to the water logging in the ghat section, the inter-city buses too were running late by a couple of hours.
Though no accident was reported from these areas, commuters said that it took them nearly six hours to reach Pune from Mumbai. To add to the woes, the roads were dug up near Vashi and Panvel.
Due to the snarls witnessed on the expressway, the traffic was diverted to the Khandala Ghat section. There were also reports of vehicle breakdown on the expressway.
Senior depot manager of Swargate ST depot Vijay Divate said, “Buses plying on the Pune-Mumbai route were running late by nearly two hours. Most of the delayed buses were those travelling from Borivali and Dadar area in Mumbai. Less visibility though affected the pace of the buses, no buses were cancelled.”
Trains unaffected
The rains did not have a major impact on the Pune-Mumbai rail route. Sunil Kamthan, senior station manager, Pune, said, “Trains coming from Mumbai though were running late by 15-20 minutes, the ones leaving from Pune were running on time. No trains were cancelled.”
Flights on time
The downpour affected the visibility on the runway. On Tuesday, the visibility on the runway was less than 3 kilometres, which on normal days is around 8 kilometres. “Due to continuous rainfall, the visibility on the runway was less. However, it did not have a major impact on the flight schedule.”
Bad roads may lead to more mishaps, fear traffic police
With incessant rains turning city roads into pothole mess, traffic police fear increase in road mishaps even as official records show a significant drop in accidents in June this year as compared to 2012.
The city witnessed 45 fatal accidents in June 2012, while the figure was 26 in the same month this year. Deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Vishwas Pandhare said, “There is less visibility when it is raining. Vehicle users drive at high speed without realising about potholes and meet with accidents.”
The officer said that many traffic signals become non-functional as water enters the distribution point box during monsoons. Motorists who get stuck in traffic tend to drive at high speed in order to reach their workplace in time and may meet with mishaps.
Inspector (planning) Rangarao Kamire from traffic police said, “Incessant rains have resulted in potholes on many roads. This has increased the number of road accident cases across the city. We will be able to give a consolidated data by the end of the month.”
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