One of the longest traffic jams in the history of the 94.5-kilometre-long Mumbai-Pune Expressway stretched on 2nd day. Thousands of commuters stranded for nearly 27 hours without access to toilets, drinking water, or food after a gas tanker overturned near the Adoshi tunnel on Tuesday evening, about 90 kms from Mumbai.
Longest traffic jam on Mumbai-Pune Expressway due to gas tanker overturned
Crews finally emptied the overturned tanker and moved it off the road late Wednesday night. Traffic began to flow again on the Mumbai-bound lane around midnight.
Traffic started to pile up around 5:15 pm on Tuesday when a tanker traveling from Kochi to Surat, carrying highly flammable propylene gas, overturned on the Mumbai-bound lane near the village of Adoshi in the Borghat section of the expressway. “There was 21 tonnes of propylene gas that transferred into another tanker. Once the gas company provides assurance of safety for the overturned tanker, it removed from the site. It will still take some time for traffic on the expressway to return to normal,” said Highway Police Superintendent.
100,000 vehicles in traffic
The incident brought the Mumbai-Pune Expressway used by an average of 100,000 vehicles daily to a standstill. Traffic towards Pune backed up to the Khalapur toll plaza, while the Mumbai-bound side had queues stretching 10 to 12 km, with hundreds of vehicles stuck for hours without moving.
For commuters, the delay became a long ordeal. Authorities advised them to avoid the affected area and take alternate routes via Tamhini Ghat, Karjat, Malshej Ghat, and Aale Phata. However, motorists reported that these secondary routes were also congested and lacked basic facilities.
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