Traffic restored on Mumbai-Pune Expressway after 36 hours; city-bound carriageway yet to normalise

Thousands of stranded motorists faced severe hardship during the prolonged jam. File pic

Traffic on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway was restored early on Thursday morning after a massive gridlock that lasted nearly 36 hours, following an accident involving a chemical tanker carrying highly flammable propylene gas near the Adoshi tunnel in the Khandala ghat section.

The incident led authorities to completely halt traffic as a precautionary measure due to a gas leak, resulting in long queues of vehicles stretching up to 25 km and leaving lakhs of commuters stranded since Tuesday evening. Clearance and gas-transfer operations were completed around 4.15 am on Thursday, after which traffic movement towards Pune resumed smoothly.

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However, minor congestion persisted on the Pune-Mumbai carriageway near the accident spot.

Mumbai-Pune Expressway traffic jam: Thousands stranded without basic facilities

Thousands of stranded motorists faced severe hardship during the prolonged jam, reporting acute shortages of food, drinking water and toilet facilities, with many families, senior citizens and patients forced to spend the night inside their vehicles.

Emergency teams, traffic police and chemical experts worked round the clock to safely neutralise the situation and clear the highway, after which authorities said traffic conditions were gradually returning to normal.