Long weekends leading to traffic jams on Pune-Mumbai e-way

The Pune-Mumbai expressway (e-way) witnessed long traffic jams on Friday, making it the third straight day this week when the e-way saw lengthy vehicle queues. The scorching heat only made matters worse as commuters struggled for long hours in traffic.

Many using the e-way vented their indignation on social media by posting about the acute inconvenience faced while tagging the concerned authorities. One Twitter user warned about the heavy traffic in the Bhor Ghat area while posting photographs and a video of the severe bottleneck. Social media was abuzz with recurring complaints of the spike in the number of trucks and heavy vehicles on the e-way. Some users even tweeted about these heavy vehicles driving in the wrong lanes and blocking other vehicles.

When contacted, officials from the Pune-Mumbai e-way control room said that the main reason behind frequent traffic jams was an increase in the number of vehicles on the e-way. The number tended to skyrocket during holidays and long weekends, worsening the traffic situation on the e-way. Not only was there a rise in the number of vehicles on the e-way, the number of accidents on the e-way had also risen over the last few days. The 18% hike in toll rates since the beginning of April coupled with the warning of a heatwave in Pune and the neighbouring areas, had compounded the commuters’ woes. A Twitter user, while tagging union transport minister Nitin Gadkari, demanded prompt action against traffic jams on the e-way saying that being stuck in logjams in the middle of heatwave conditions could adversely affect the health of commuters.