After 32-Hour Mumbai-Pune Expressway Traffic Gridlock, Motorists Face Weekend Snarls

After Tuesday’s 32-hour gridlock, traffic again came to a crawl on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway on Saturday evening, leaving motorists stuck for at least two hours.
Officials said the traffic was due to election-related travel.
Commuters were seen complaining on social media about what they called the “new normal” on the route every weekend.

What happened on Tuesday?

The 32-hour traffic gridlock on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway began on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, after a tanker carrying highly flammable propylene gas overturned near the Adoshi tunnel in the Khandala ghat section. The incident caused a catastrophic disruption that only resolved in the early hours of Thursday, February 5. It started around 5:00 pm on Tuesday, a tanker lost control on a slope, capsized, and began leaking

gas. Due to the high risk of explosion, authorities were forced to shut down the Mumbai-bound lanes and intermittently stop Pune-bound traffic. Vehicle queues stretched up to 20–30 kilometres. Thousands of commuters, including children, elderly citizens, and patients, were stranded without access to food, water, or toilets. Teams from the NDRF, SDRF, and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) worked to safely transfer the gas to another tanker. The operation was delayed by the volatile nature of the cargo and the difficulty of accessing the site.

What was the impact?

MSRTC was forced to cancel or disrupt over 160 bus trips.
Industrialist Sudhir Mehta famously used a helicopter to escape the jam after being stuck for eight hours.
Patients heading to Mumbai for critical treatments missed their appointments due to the complete road closure.

What were the issues?

Even after the tanker was removed at 1:30 AM on Thursday, normalcy was slowto return due to a massive backlog of heavy vehicles and subsequent vehicle breakdowns near Bhor Ghat on Friday. The incident has reignited calls for the completion of the “Missing Link” project, which aims to bypass the dangerous curves of the Khandala Ghat.
For real-time traffic updates or to report emergencies on the Expressway, you can contact the Maharashtra Highway Police.