NAVI MUMBAI: The three days holiday from Saturday onwards has resulted in citizens travelling in their private cars to holiday destinations thereby causing severe traffic snarls on the arterial Sion-Panvel highway and Mumbai-Pune expressway since Saturday morning.
The collection at Vashi toll plaza has further slowed down the traffic movement claim motorists. The traffic snarl has extended for a distance of around 3 kms from Vashi toll plaza till Sanpada and also from Mankhurd till Vashi toll plaza.
Navi Mumbai police has tweeted that on the Mumbai-Pune highway, there is traffic jam at Belapur, Kharghar and Kamothe due to raid work going on near Purusharth petrol pump at Kamothe. Motorists travelling along Pune and Goa highway should take the alternative route Uran phata-Killa junction-Gavhan phata-Palaspe
Bapurao Deshmukh, senior inspector of Vashi traffic unit said, "The vehicular movement on both carriageways of the Sion-Panvel highway has slowed down due to the on-going work of extension of Vashi toll plaza from 10 lanes to 16 lanes. Though, toll collection at Vashi toll plaza has also been causing traffic snarl, we have been intermittently allowing the motorists to cross the toll plaza without paying toll charges, due to which there have been arguments between the police and toll plaza staff."
He said, "Due to three days holiday till August 15, there is an increase in number of vehciles plying on the Sion-Panvel highway. We have deployed sufficient traffic cops to streamline the traffic movement, due to which the vehicles are not stranded but moving slowly."
API Yogesh Bhosale of Bhor ghat unit, Highway Safety Patrol informed that the traffic snarl on the Mumbai-Pune expressway has extended for 4 kms from Khalapur toll plaza on the Mumbai carriageway, since motorists are heading to holiday destinations in Raigad and Pune. To decongest the traffic movement, every 15 minutes, we are stopping the vehicles plying towards Mumbai and allowing the vehicles heading towards Pune to ply on the opposite Pune carriageway, thus enabling us to clear the backlog of traffic congestion."
