Aerial footage shows miles-long Mumbai-Pune expressway traffic jam

A drone visual of the traffic jam on Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

The busy Mumbai-Pune Expressway saw a massive traffic jam, lasting more than 31 hours, caused after a serious accident occurred on Tuesday evening.

A tanker carrying propylene gas overturned in the Khandala Ghat section near the Adoshi Tunnel leading to a long jam. Drone footage captured the full extent of the resulting congestion with the three-lane highway packed solid with vehicles stretching for 20-30 km in places.

A 20+ hour traffic jam on Mumbai Pune Highway. As per the government's own estimates apart from private vehicles 163 state transport buses have also been stuck. Think of the plight of women and children who have been stuck like this for hours. Last year we had seen a massive… pic.twitter.com/izXGLqFMHs

— Prof. Varsha Eknath Gaikwad (@VarshaEGaikwad) February 4, 2026

With vehicles stuck across a 20–22 km stretch, many drivers had parked and dozed off overnight, unaware that the road was reopened in the early hours. Traffic police teams moved along the queues, knocking on windows and waking drivers to push traffic forward and restore flow.

Authorities cleared the tanker using cranes and reopened the Pune-to-Mumbai carriageway at around 1.40 am on Thursday. Both lanes towards Mumbai and Pune have since been opened, though officials said normal movement will take time because of long backlogs, especially near Lonavala, where queues still stretch 5 to 10 km.