Days after 32-hr traffic: Expressway again witnesses snarls with weekend vehicles surge

The weekend snarls were reported within days after the expressway reported one of its longest ever traffic disruptions of over 30 hours, with vehicle queues stretching beyond 20 kms, after a tanker carrying highly flammable propylene gas overturned on the Mumbai-bound corridor at the Adoshi tunnel in Raigad district on the evening of February 3. The traffic flow went back to normal only in the early hours of February 5 after disruptions caused major distress to commuters with many getting stuck in traffic jams for over 15 hours.

When contacted about the traffic situation on the weekend, Superintendent of Police with the State Highway Police Vikrant Deshmukh said, “The weekends generally report a surge in the number of the vehicles on both the corridors of the Expressway. This generally leads to traffic slowing down in the ghat section. We ensure deployment of maximum possible strength on ground to handle the situation.”

The incident on February 3 had taken place around 5 pm near the entrance of the Adoshi Tunnel on Pune to Mumbai corridor of the Expressway when a Bharat Petroleum tanker carrying propylene from Kochi to Surat overturned while navigating a curve. Soon after the incident, a leak was detected in the tanker.

As soon as the leak was detected, police were left with no choice but to close down the Pune to Mumbai corridor completely. Teams from Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and National Disaster Response Force, NDRF were called to the location. As the efforts to control the leak were launched, the traffic on both corridors of the expressway had to be stopped for safety. The traffic from some previous points was also diverted to the Old Pune Mumbai Highway, which is part of the National Highway 48. The additional traffic caused a slowdown of the traffic on the Old Highway.

The stretch of the National Highway 48 between Pune and Mumbai is referred to as the Old Mumbai Pune Highway. Before the six lane Expressway became operational in early 2000s, the Old Highway was the only direct road link between two metros. The 94 kilometer Expressway has been witnessing heavy traffic jams in the Ghat sections due to high volume of traffic including that of heavy vehicles.

The under-construction Missing Link between Pune and Mumbai has been designed to bypass the congested Lonavala–Khandala ghat section and cut 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 sharp turns.