To find a temporary solution to the ongoing traffic jam on a 15-kilometre stretch of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai National Highway 48 — from Bamangam in Karjan to Jambuva near Vadodara — the city police and other authorities, including the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), carried out an inspection of the route on Tuesday.
According to a media report, Vadodara Police Commissioner Narasimha Komar, along with officials from the NHAI, Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC), Roads and Buildings (R&B) Department, and the Regional Transport Office (RTO), reviewed the stretch, which has been facing severe traffic jams for over two weeks — with congestion lasting up to 24 hours on many days.
Following the inspection and discussion with officials, Komar said that the authorities would get together to “draw out a temporary action plan” as the NHAI is already working on widening the bridges that are acting as bottlenecks on the six-lane highway.
Speaking about finding an interim solution to ease the traffic snarl, Komar said, “The Ahmedabad-Mumbai stretch of NH-48 is one of the busiest… Being an economic corridor, there is movement of heavy vehicular traffic including multi-axle vehicles. Due to potholes caused by the heavy rains, the traffic moves slowly and causes a snarl… In some cases, breakdown of multi-axle vehicles also leads to jams. The cascading effect causes serpentine queues…”
He said, “City police, NHAI engineers and representatives, RTO, R&B department and VMC have arrived to inspect (the area). An action plan for a temporary solution will be brought about … (This would include) police management and short-term engineering solutions in coordination with other agencies. NHAI is already working on a long-term solution…”
On July 25, the NHAI was working on widening five narrow bridges between Vadodara and Bharuch. The work is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.
According to NHAI Project Director Anuj Sharma “The five bridges between Vadodara and Bharuch – Vishwamitri, Jambuva, Por and Bamangam in Vadodara district and Bhukhi Khadi in Bharuch district – are the bottleneck areas that have been leading to a jam during peak hours. These are four-lane bridges that were built when the highway was last developed in 2008… The rest of the highway is now a six-lane highway and therefore, as the traffic moves through these bridges, it leads to congestion, irrespective of rains. The widening of these five bridges began in January 2025 and will be completed by the end of 2026,”.