PUNE: Commuters in the city’s southern suburban areas remained struck in traffic congestions from Monday morning till the afternoon as tyres of two container trucks deflated near the Warje flyover because of the crater-like potholes on the Katraj-Dehu Road bypass.The congestion had a cascading effect on the vehicular movement along the other stretches of the bypass and also on Sinhagad road, Katraj bypass and Pune-Satara road.Deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Tejaswi Satpute said the two Mumbai-bound container trucks from Satara hit the potholes near the Warje flyover on the bypass and their tyres got deflated. “This triggered the traffic congestion on the bypass. As a result, vehicular flow was affected on Sinhagad road and other thoroughfares,” she told TOI.Vehicles were seen stuck in long queues on Sinhagad road, Katraj-Dehu Road bypass and Satara road. The police had to deploy additional personnel to clear the congestion.Assistant commissioner of police (traffic) Prabhakar Dhamale said, “It was quite surprising that how the tyres of the two heavily loaded container trucks deflated at the same spot, which is on a slope along the bypass. Inspection revealed that both the trucks had crossed the potholes at a high speed.”Two heavy-duty cranes were used to remove the trucks to the service lane of the bypass. The vehicles headed for Hinjewadi from Katraj and other areas started taking Sinhagad road. Many motorists also took the Pune-Satara road from Katraj.This added vehicular load on both the roads and traffic almost came to a halt on the roads near Rajaram bridge, Dandekar bridge and the Karvenagar area. “The sinkhole near the Rajaram bridge on the DP road worsened the situation in Karvenagar,” Dhamale said.Many people preferred to travel in their cars instead of the two-wheelers because it had started raining by then. This further added to the chaos. “Many signals had to be switched off and traffic policemen manned the junctions to clear the congestion. But the number of vehicles was very high,” Satpute said.Ajay Mehandale, a resident of Ambegaon , said “I was stuck in the traffic for about two hours. I travel to my workplace in Swargate daily. I have, however, never seen such a congestion on Sinhagad road.”The traffic police officials had on Saturday held a meeting with National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on the potholes on the Katraj-Dehu Road bypass, especially at Warje. The police said the NHAI has agreed to resurface the road.

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