India, Feb. 8 -- Just two days after a 32-hour-long traffic clog came to an end on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, the route was reportedly met with traffic chaos once again over the weekend. Peak-hour travel turned into a tortoise crawl for most commuters on Saturday due to what officials described as "local body election-related travel".

Days earlier, on Tuesday, the overturning of a propylene tanker near the Adoshi tunnel in the Khandala ghat triggered a prolonged shutdown of the busy corridor. Authorities carried out a 32-hour operation, completing the gas transfer and removal of the overturned tanker, restoring traffic on the expressway at around 2 am on Thursday.

The longest traffic gridlock in the history of the 94.5-kilometre-long M...