Massive Traffic Jam on Mumbai-Pune Expressway; Commuters Stuck in Holiday Traffic

Pune, December 25, 2025: The festive cheer turned into a frustrating ordeal for thousands of commuters today as a massive traffic jam gripped the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. With the Christmas holiday kicking off a long vacation season leading up to New Year’s Eve, the arterial highway has been choked since early Thursday morning.

Travelers reported bumper-to-bumper traffic, particularly at the entry points and the treacherous Bhor Ghat section. The surge in private vehicles and tourist buses heading toward hill stations like Lonavala and Khandala, as well as the coastal regions, has pushed the highway’s capacity to its limit.

A Recurring Holiday Nightmare

For regular commuters between the two cities, this is a familiar and exhausting story. Every major festive season or long weekend inevitably leads to a standstill on the Expressway. Despite traffic management efforts, the sheer volume of vehicles often results in delays of two to three hours beyond the usual travel time.

“We left Pune early hoping to beat the rush, but we’ve been crawling for the last 90 minutes,” said one motorist stuck near the Khalapur toll plaza. “It’s the same situation every December.”

Just In – Huge traffic jam over Mumbai – Pune expressway since morning

Please plan your travel accordingly!

pic.twitter.com/VKkzimwdgs

— Ramnath Jayaraman (@RamnathJayraman) December 25, 2025

The ‘Missing Link’ Solution

Infrastructure experts and frustrated drivers agree that the congestion will likely persist until the much-anticipated “Missing Link” project is opened to the public.

The Missing Link is a massive engineering undertaking designed to:

• Bypass the Ghat Section: It will allow traffic to skip the narrow, curvy, and landslide-prone hairpin bends of the existing Khandala ghat.
• Enhance Safety: By providing a straighter, wider path, it aims to reduce the high frequency of accidents in the ghats.
• Reduce Travel Time: Once operational, the link is expected to shave off nearly 20–25 minutes of travel time between the two metros.

Until this project is completed, the Mumbai-Pune Expressway remains a bottleneck during holiday peaks, leaving travelers with little choice but to plan for significant delays.

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