Pimpri Chinchwad, 7th November 2026: In a fresh setback to efforts to prevent heavy vehicles from getting stuck under the Morwadi grade separator on the Mumbai-Pune highway, a height barrier installed by the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) collapsed within just 18 hours after an unidentified vehicle rammed into it.
The iron barrier, installed at the Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Grade Separator around 5.30am on Thursday (November 5), was knocked down by an unidentified vehicle around 11pm the same day. The driver is suspected to have fled via the service road after the incident.
The latest incident has broken the previous record of sorts, when an earlier height barrier installed at the same location was damaged within 48 hours.
The PCMC had installed the barrier to prevent oversized containers and other heavy vehicles from entering the grade separator and damaging its structure. Several tall containers have previously got stuck under the structure, causing damage to its slab and horizontal beam.
The issue resurfaced on October 30, when another container scraped against the horizontal beam, leaving it in a potentially dangerous condition. Following an alert from the traffic police, the civic administration had shut the road to traffic between 3pm and 5pm on October 31.
Manoj Borse, executive engineer of the PCMCтАЩs civil projects department, said the height barrier installed early on Thursday was hit by an unidentified vehicle around 11pm and brought down.
Meanwhile, Pimpri traffic police inspector Amit Dolas called for a detailed assessment of the height barrier and the actual clearance available under the grade separator. He also suggested checking whether repeated layers of asphalt laid beneath the bridge had reduced its effective vertical clearance.
Dolas pointed out that container vehicles do not frequently get stuck at other grade separators in the city, raising questions about the clearance available at the Morwadi structure.
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