Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway paralysed by massive jams: Here's what caused it

Hundreds of commuters, including school students, were stranded for over 12 hours on the Mumbai–Ahmedabad National Highway (NH-48) in Maharashtra’s Palghar district on Wednesday, leaving them without food or water.

 

Videos circulating on social media showed endless traffic snarls, rows of school buses, and scores of students seeking shelter at nearby petrol pumps. According to a PTI report, twelve buses carrying students from Classes 5 to 10 of various schools and several college students from Thane and Mumbai were trapped in the gridlock that stretched for several kilometres near Vasai. 

 

Frustrated commuters took to social media to voice their anger. Entrepreneur Vedang Dongre wrote on X: “Complete mess on both sides of the Mumbai–Ahmedabad Highway. Two hours and twenty minutes from Goregaon to Vasai, with the return being unimaginable. Six hours to return from Wada to Goregaon via Bhiwandi. Please check if a road even exists on this patch.”

 

He further added, “I challenge Maharashtra ministers to travel from Bhiwandi to Wada. The Mumbai–Ahmedabad highway is always jammed for hours. Should industries even function in Maharashtra anymore?”

What led to the Mumbai–Ahmedabad highway jam?

Part of the highway had been closed for repair work, leading to massive congestion ahead of Vasai. At Gaimukh Ghats in Thane, repairs have been ongoing, and authorities announced a three-day closure for heavy vehicles with diversions in place. Despite these restrictions, several heavy vehicles continued to ply the route, worsening the situation.

 

Commuters reported being stuck for five to eight hours, while ambulances and emergency vehicles struggled to move through the standstill.

A long-standing issue

The congestion, however, is far from new. It has been a recurring nightmare for commuters for several years. The initial bottlenecks emerged during the Versova Bridge repairs and the construction of a new bridge, which led to two to three years of constant jams. The monsoon further adds to the misery each year, with potholes filling with water and road surfaces deteriorating rapidly once the rains recede. 

 

An X user recalled, “A few years back, I drove from Mumbai to Udaipur and reached in around nine hours. Yesterday, my nephew and a friend took the same route; it took them nineteen hours.”

 

Accidents, too, are frequent on this stretch. According to a Times of India report, 30 people lost their lives in road accidents on the Mumbai–Ahmedabad Highway between January and June this year alone.

Schools pause picnic plans

Following the chaos, several schools across Mumbai have called off their picnic plans, according to a Mid-Day report. By the time the stranded buses finally reached Malwani early the next morning, students were exhausted, their phones dead, and parents panicked.

 

Parents and residents blamed poor planning, mismanagement, and a lack of coordination among authorities for the situation, demanding accountability and long-term solutions to prevent such issues in the future.