India, May 1 -- Thousands of travellers were stuck for over two hours, as a gridlock brought traffic to a near standstill on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway on Friday morning amid a long weekend rush,and the inauguration of an alternative to a 19.8 km-long expressway section.

A significant surge in vehicles travelling from Mumbai to popular tourist destinations, such as Mahabaleshwar and other hill stations, caused unusually heavy traffic in the early hours. Member of Parliament Supriya Sule was among those caught in the gridlock.

Authorities struggled to manage the surge even as travellers questioned the planning of the event to inaugurate the "Missing Link" on the expressway on a peak travel day. The inauguration of the link, aimed at redu...