Pune : Heavy vehicles halting and chronic congestion of vehicles irks Mumbai-Satara Highway commuters

Commuters on the National Highway 48 (NH 48) Mumbai-Satara Highway are troubled by the everyday traffic at Warje, Chandni Chowk & several other areas near the highway. Traffic jams are also caused due to heavy vehicles frequently halting on the highway, some commuters say.

Speaking to Pune Pulse, Bhavna Singh, an everyday commuter on NH48 & resident of Undri said, “I travel every day towards Baner. While commuting on NH 48, especially at Warje side, daily huge trucks stop on the highway leading to huge traffic congestion & almost doubling the time for commuting. Even today, the same thing happened. Also, before this, another huge truck was stuck on the road. Every day, you will find that one or the other truck is stuck on the same stretch, causing us to get stuck in unnecessary traffic congestion. I use this stretch to commute every day. Since Diwali 2023, this is worsening. Every day during peak travelling hours, trucks commute on the highway. Every day, I start travelling from my home at around 7:30 am or 8 am. Whenever I reach the highway, every day, whenever there is traffic congestion, it is because of a truck getting stuck in the middle of the road. I don’t understand why these trucks or heavy vehicles travel during peak hours on the highway.”

Raj Zadepatil, another everyday commuter on NH48 & resident of Warje said, “This traffic problem is very much there at Chandani Chowk, Warje and more. Every day, vehicles are stuck on the highway, causing huge traffic issues. Sometimes I travel to Baner, Hadapsar etc for which a lot of my time is spent travelling from the huge traffic jams which get created. At Chandani Chowk, even after the work of Chandani Chowk flyover is completed, this happens every day.”

Vikram Misal, sub-inspector, Warje Malwadi Traffic Police said, “Whenever vehicles are stuck on the highway, we immediately move the vehicle with the help of a crane & clear the road & normalize the traffic. For this very purpose, we have cranes. The traffic remains for some minutes i.e. till the stuck vehicle is cleared from the highway.”

Shreyas Vange