The weekend’s problems came just days after the highway recorded one of the longest traffic disruptions in its history, lasting more than 30 hours, with queues of vehicles stretching more than 20 kilometers, after a tanker truck carrying highly flammable propylene gas overturned on the road. Bombaycorridor bound for Adoshi tunnel in Raigad district on the afternoon of February 3. Traffic flow returned to normal only in the early hours of February 5 after disruptions caused great inconvenience to commuters, many of whom were stuck in traffic jams for more than 15 hours.

When contacted about the traffic situation over the weekend, State Highway Police superintendent of police Vikrant Deshmukh said, “Weekends generally report an increase in the number of vehicles on both the highway corridors. This usually leads to traffic slowing down on the ghat section. We ensure deployment of maximum possible ground force to handle the situation.”

The incident on February 3 took place around 5 pm near the entrance of Adoshi tunnel on the Pune-Mumbai expressway corridor, when a Bharat Petroleum tanker carrying propylene from Kochi to Surat overturned when cornering. Shortly after the incident, a leak was detected in the tanker.

As soon as the leak was detected, the police were left with no option but to completely shut down the Pune-Mumbai corridor. Teams from Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and National Disaster Response Force, NDRF, were called to the spot. When efforts began to control the leak, traffic had to be stopped on both highway corridors for safety reasons. Traffic from some earlier points was also diverted towards the old Pune Mumbai Expressway, which is part of National Highway 48. The additional traffic led to a slowdown in traffic on the old expressway.

The stretch of National Highway 48 between Pune and Mumbai is known as Old Mumbai Pune Highway. Before the six-lane motorway came into operation in the early 2000s, the old motorway was the only direct road link between two metros. The 94-kilometer expressway has witnessed heavy traffic jams at the Ghat sections due to high volume of traffic, including heavy vehicles.

The Missing Link under construction between Pune and Mumbai has been designed to bypass the congested Lonavala-Khandala ghat section and reduce the travel time between the two cities by nearly 25-30 minutes. Once completed, the elevated corridor and tunnel are expected to significantly ease traffic pressure on the ghat section with its hairpin bends.