Mumbai, Aug. 25 -- With the much anticipated Ganpati festival barely two days away, traffic on the Mumbai-Goa Highway (NH 66) has surged manifold, with thousands from Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai and neighbouring areas travelling to their hometowns in the Konkan region. The surge has led to traffic jams stretching several kilometres at multiple places along the highway, even as motorists inundate social media with photos and posts about the poor road condition, potholes and pending construction work. To cater to the rush, the state government has arranged special trains and deployed around 1,000 additional state transport (ST) buses, many of which are already plying on the route. Yet, private vehicles dominate the highway. "People are traveling overnight to avoid jams, but the bottlenecks are impossible to escape," said Mahadev Chavan, who is travelling from Thane to Malvan. "Work has been pending for years, and yet, we face the same chaos every festive season." The project to transform the old, two-lane Mumbai-Goa highway into a four-lane expressway began in 2011. However, as HT has previously reported, the construction has unravelled into a journey of endless suffering, with several tattered stretches and cratered surfaces forcing motorists to take detours along service roads and bypasses. With the surge in traffic owing to the Ganpati festival, starting August 27, serpentine jams stretching for six to seven kilometers have become routine near Mangaon and Lonere, where a flyover is under construction, said motorists. Marathi actor Vaibhav Mangle, who travelled from Mumbai to Devrukh in Ratnagiri district on Saturday, said in a social media post that the highway is in terrible condition near Mangaon, Chiplun, and Sangameshwar. "It's hard to believe when or if these roads will ever be built," he said. Mangle's post resonated widely, with many motorists echoing his frustration and others creating songs and memes about the poor road condition and delays. To manage the rush, over 600 police and home guard personnel have been deployed at major congestion points along the highway such as Gadab, Koletiwadi, Nagothane, Kolar, Indapur, Mangaon, and Lonere. Motorcycle patrols are also being conducted to control traffic and assist stranded motorists. The state government has waived tolls for motorists traveling towards the Konkan, which may have added to the volume of vehicles on the highway....