Traffic resumes on Mumbai-Goa National Highway

The Mumbai-Goa National Highway, which had seen traffic snarls due to heavy rains from Thursday night and Friday morning, finally saw some relief by Friday afternoon, and traffic resumed at a slow pace.

One lane of the highway towards Goa was opened up to motorists in the morning, after the State Highway Police had diverted the traffic from Chiplun towards the NH-4 that leads to Kolhapur after intense rains were experienced in the area.

A small landslide, in which no one was injured, was reported at Parshuram Ghat in Khed.

“One or two small bridges were slightly submerged in the water near Chiplun and, since we didn’t want to take any risk, the traffic was diverted until late Friday morning,” said an official from the State Highway Police Control.

Meanwhile in the evening, Vorkhadi Naka saw some back-to-back traffic after potholes cropped up on the road after the heavy downpour.

“As of now, only the Vorkhadi Naka is seeing some traffic. Otherwise, most of the highway was clear by evening,” the official further added.

The traffic was shut down by 8.30 on Thursday night itself and not resumed until morning, causing an intense traffic snarl.

The precautions have gone up a notch since the tragedy of Mahad on August 2, when 22 people were killed when two state transport buses and a private vehicle plummeted into the Savitri river when the bridge close to the Mahad-Goa highway had collapsed.