Massive Traffic Jam on Pune-Mumbai Expressway During Republic Day Weekend

Pune: The Pune-Mumbai Expressway faced massive traffic jams on Saturday during the Republic Day weekend, as thousands of vehicles headed toward Lonavla and other hill stations, resulting in severe congestion. The worst-affected stretch was the ghat section near the Amrutanjan Bridge, where vehicles moved at a snail’s pace for several hours.

Several videos showing kilometers-long queues of vehicles went viral on social media, highlighting the scale of congestion on one of the state’s busiest highways. Some commuters even took to social media to share their situations, calling for better traffic management during long weekends and public holidays. Many also appealed to the authorities to provide advance travel advisories and deploy additional traffic management measures.

The weekend, coupled with the Republic Day holiday on Monday, led to a surge in vehicles. Thousands of commuters seemed to have taken advantage of the extended break, resulting in slow-moving traffic and long queues at several points on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway.

According to the highway police, the situation worsened due to a sharp rise in tourist movement towards hill stations such as Lonavla and adjoining areas. The ghat section, known for its steep gradient, became a major bottleneck as vehicle speeds reduced significantly, resulting in long queues, especially on the Mumbai-to-Pune side.

Vijay Deshmukh, Superintendent of Police, Highway Traffic Division, said authorities were forced to temporarily halt vehicle movement from Pune towards Mumbai at certain intervals to ease congestion.

“Due to the stiff slope in the ghat section, vehicle speeds reduce drastically, leading to long queues on the Mumbai side. In such situations, we stop traffic from Pune to Mumbai for a short duration and make all six lanes available for vehicles coming from Mumbai towards Pune or Lonavla,” Deshmukh said.

He added that the volume of traffic during long weekends increases more than threefold.

“On a regular day, around 20,000 to 25,000 vehicles pass through this stretch. However, during long weekends like this one, the number shoots up to nearly 80,000 to 90,000 vehicles, making traffic management extremely challenging,” he said.

Deshmukh said while congestion remained heavy on the expressway and in the Lonavla region, Pune city did not witness a significant surge in traffic.

“Most of the tourist traffic gets concentrated in Lonavla and nearby areas, so the city centre does not experience a similar inflow,” he said.

The highway police have also put emergency response mechanisms in place to prevent further delays. “In case of vehicle breakdowns in the ghat section or other critical points on the expressway, our teams respond immediately to clear the obstruction and avoid worsening of traffic congestion,” Deshmukh said.

Authorities have urged commuters to plan their travel in advance during long weekends and follow traffic advisories to avoid peak congestion hours on the expressway.