Pune: Citizens travelling on the Pune-Mumbai expressway faced an approximate delay of 45 minutes on Thursday because of ongoing road maintenance and poor weather conditions, with authorities warning of potentially worse traffic over the weekend.One of the expressway’s six lanes was closed for repair work, leading to slow-moving traffic. It caused some people to miss their flights and appointments.Cab driver Krishna Pandare said, “The traffic from Pune to Mumbai was crawling, since a lane was under repair. Moreover, larger vehicles were diverted to another lane and all this caused a bottleneck. My passenger had a flight from Mumbai, but he missed it because he was late by an hour.”Another cabbie, Amol Gawade, said, “Traffic was slow on the main ghat section near Khandala, with vehicles running nearly 45 minutes late. We were headed to Mumbai from Pune. Resultantly, my passenger missed an urgent appointment in Panvel.”RTI activist Sanjay Shirodkar blamed the authorities for a lack of communication and complete mismanagement. He said, “I was delayed by 40 minutes, which is significant on a Pune-Mumbai trip. Road maintenance work was underway without any prior intimation to commuters, so we couldn’t plan alternative routes. One lane was closed, leading to a pile-up stretching over a few kilometres. It was raining and visibility was poor to make matters worse. The congestion started near Lonavla, where the speed limit drops from 100 kmph to 60 kmph. When I called the expressway helpline, they were clueless about the situation.”Shirodkar also said there was no highway patrolling to manage the jam.Meanwhile, a highway police official said, “On Thursday, potholes and patches on a 1km stretch toward Mumbai were being repaired since the rain has temporarily halted over the last few days. We needed to close one of the three lanes and this caused the slowdown. With the weekend approaching, we expect heavier traffic and it may worsen the situation.”Sadiq Sayyad, a cab driver, said, “Traffic on expressway was moving slowly. I was there around 11am on Thursday — on my way back to Pune from Mumbai. It added an extra 30 minutes to my journey. The traffic moved at a snail’s pace between the Amrutanjan bridge and the Lonavla exit.”Ashok Sanas, another cab driver, said, “It was bumper-to-bumper from Lonavla till the Amrutanjan bridge. I was delayed by 45 minutes and took nearly five hours to reach my destination. There were some road repairs happening. I was going to Mumbai from Pune and had a drop-off at the airport. Fortunately, we had left earlier than usual and the passenger boarded their flight.”
