Mumbai, July 28 -- The central government has established a dedicated National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) Project Implementation Unit (PIU) in Vadodara to tackle persistent traffic snarls that paralysed the Vadodara-Bharuch stretch of NH-48 during last monsoon. The move followed representation by Vadodara Lok Sabha MP Hemang Joshi to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways seeking prompt resolution of recurring congestion and is intended to provide localised supervision and faster on?site decision making to prevent prolonged standstills.
Joshi had argued that the absence of a local NHAI team left authorities unable to coordinate immediate relief when severe congestion occurred and had urged a permanent office to ensure patchwork and repairs as required rather than awaiting teams from elsewhere. He conveyed an expectation that operations this monsoon would show marked improvement as a result of the localised presence. The ministry responded after the MP raised the matter during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha.
The ministry communication stated that NHAI had acted on the recommendation by setting up the Vadodara PIU and that construction of bridges over the Vishwamitri, the Jambuva, the Por and the Bamangam rivers were in advanced stages to remove existing bottlenecks. It added that additional service roads were being planned along congested urban stretches to segregate local traffic from long?distance vehicles and thereby reduce pressure on the main carriageway. The ministry further outlined preparations intended to speed incident management.
Officials indicated that round?the?clock highway patrolling and emergency ambulance services have been deployed for faster incident response and that completion of the Vadodara-Navsari section of the Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway is expected to divert heavy freight traffic from NH-48. The measures respond to recurring monsoon gridlock on an approximately 15 km stretch between Bamangam in Karjan and Jambuva on the outskirts of Vadodara. During the 2025 monsoon continuous jams prompted joint inspections by police, NHAI, the municipal corporation, the roads and buildings department and the regional transport office.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Construction World.