Pune, Feb. 19 -- In a push for smooth travel during emergency following the gas tanker accident in the Bhor Ghat section of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway on February 3 disrupted traffic for 32 hours, the state highway police and the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) plan to construct median openings at intervals of 2 to 2.5 km along the 14-km stretch to enable faster traffic diversion during such situations. Authorities have also proposed deploying a dedicated technical expert within MSRDC and IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd to provide immediate guidance during accidents involving hazardous materials. Owing to the hazardous nature of the cargo in the gas tanker, authorities were compelled to halt traffic entirely instead of allowing partial movement on one carriageway. The lack of adequate divider cuts made it difficult to divert vehicles quickly, causing long traffic snarls and inconvenience to thousands of commuters travelling between Mumbai and Pune. Emergency teams were also forced to depend on external chemical experts, delaying containment and clearance operations. Superintendent of police (highway traffic) Tanaji Chikhale said the police have written to MSRDC outlining a detailed action plan. "There should be a proper and wider opening in the median. If an incident occurs, we should be able to divert traffic immediately to prevent a situation like the last incident," Chikhale said. These openings can be closed with barricading during normal times to prevent unauthorised entry, said another official. Chikhale pointed out that the existing divider openings in the ghat section are inadequate. "The ghat stretch is 14 km long and currently has four divider cuts. Only two of them are reasonably usable, allowing two vehicles to pass at a time. The remaining two are so narrow that only one vehicle can pass, which again leads to bottlenecks. We have suggested widening the existing openings. At the very least, these openings should be marked in a different colour so that during emergencies, cranes can lift and shift vehicles from those locations," he said. Highlighting the need for in-house technical expertise during hazardous accidents, Chikhale said, "When gases or other hazardous materials are involved, traffic cannot be allowed to move at all. In such cases, a technical expert will provide quick solutions." He said that during the recent mishap, authorities had to call a private NGO expert and later a chemical expert from Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, which consumed valuable time. A senior MSRDC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the corporation has received the police's communication and has formed a committee to examine the feasibility and design of additional and wider divider cuts in ghat area....