4 minutes of readingBombayUpdated: February 6, 2026 10:34 am IST
Following a Traffic is stopped for a day and a half. on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway following a tanker accidentThe Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has started working on a special emergency traffic plan to better handle similar crises in the future.
The disruption was caused on Tuesday around 5 pm when a tanker carrying flammable propylene gas overturned near the Adoshi tunnel in Raigad and started leaking, forcing authorities to close the tunnel. Bombay-Road with diverse destination and traffic.
Acting on the instructions of the Deputy Chief Minister Eknath ShindeMSRDC officials said they are analyzing how the incident unfolded and identifying ways to manage such emergencies more efficiently until the Missing Link project goes live on May 1.
“Such an incident has never happened before,” said MSRDC director general Anil Kumar Gaikwad.
“According to the emergency response plan, rapid response vehicles, ambulances and firefighting vehicles were mobilized immediately. But since the situation was so serious, safety was paramount and there was little we could do.”
Gaikwad said that after the tanker overturned, three of its valves were damaged, leading to continuous leakage of propylene gas.
With around 21 metric tonnes of highly flammable gas on board and a safety radius of at least 15 meters needed to prevent explosions, authorities had no choice but to stop traffic on the Mumbai-bound lanes.
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The 13.3 km Missing Link project that will bypass the accident-prone 19.8 km ghat section between Khandala and Lonavala is expected to significantly ease traffic flow.
The vehicles were diverted to one lane of the PunePune-bound carriageway, while two lanes were kept open for Pune-bound traffic. Additional diversions were made to the four-lane Old Mumbai Pune Expressway.
The detour effectively reduced traffic from 10 lanes (six on the highway and four on the old highway) to just seven lanes, many of them carrying heavy vehicles, causing massive congestion that lasted more than a day.
An MSRDC official said stopping the gas leak proved to be a big challenge. “Getting experts in the chemical and mechanical machinations to stop the leak at the last moment and getting them to the spot on time proved to be a challenge,” the official said.
“If a tanker with non-hazardous cargo overturns, our responses can get it back on its feet within an hour. But it was not such a simple task.”
Although chemical experts and the National Disaster Response Force reached the site on Tuesday night, it took all day on Wednesday to transfer the flammable gas to other tankers. The overturned vehicle was finally towed away at 1 am on Thursday, allowing traffic to resume on the Mumbai-bound highway. Normal traffic flow was not restored until midday Thursday.
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“There is always room for improvement and that is what we will work on for the contingency plan,” said the official. “But the permanent solution to this problem and to ensure that a traffic jam of this magnitude does not occur again is the missing link.”
Gaikwad added that the police would examine possible action against the tanker operator, noting that the responsibility of ensuring the safe movement of hazardous materials lies with the transporter.
The 13.3 km Missing Link project that will bypass the accident-prone 19.8 km ghat section between Khandala and Lonavala is expected to significantly ease traffic flow. The route, which connects Kusgaon and Khopoli through two tunnels of 1.64 km and 8.9 km and cable-stayed bridges, will reduce the travel time between Mumbai and Pune by about 30 minutes. Vehicles transporting dangerous chemicals will not be allowed to use the section.