VIJAYAWADA: An extended Sankranti weekend, post-Kanuma departures, and a record influx of travellers returning in their own cars combined to choke national highways across Andhra Pradesh on Saturday, triggering unprecedented traffic congestion and multi-hour delays.
This post-Sankranti homecoming of holidaymakers created severe traffic congestion across major highways in several districts.
As per estimates, around 1.5 lakh vehicles entered AP during the last week as families returned to their villages to celebrate Sankranti.
As the festival season drew to a close, travellers began their return journey simultaneously, placing pressure on major highway corridors leading out of the State.
The situation was further intensified as Kanuma fell on Friday, a day traditionally considered inauspicious for travel. Many people therefore avoided travelling on this day and opted to begin their return journey from Saturday. Officials expect the traffic flow to continue till Sunday, as the return of holidaymakers remains limited. Major toll plazas, including Keesara, Chillakallu, Davvuluru, Pottipadu, Eluru, and others, witnessed rush.
Long queues stretched for kilometres, with commuters forced to wait two to three hours at multiple toll gates. APSRTC and TSRTC bus services, along with a large number of private travel buses, were also affected by the gridlock. Passengers faced delays as buses struggled to navigate jammed highways. This year’s Sankranti became a long weekend, extending village stays and large-scale rural events such as cockfights and betting. Prolonged celebrations compressed return travel, worsening congestion. The opening of the Vijayawada West Bypass, however, provided partial relief by easing traffic pressure within Vijayawada city.
The bypass begins at Chinna Avutapalli and connects to NH-65 (Machilipatnam-Pune highway) near the Gollapudi outskirts. A significant volume of traffic was diverted through this route, preventing severe congestion inside the city limits. However, it resulted in queues from Nallakunta to Chillakallu and beyond on the highway. A traveler Mummidi Karthikeya from Palakollu who was going to Hyderabad through Gudivada-Vijayawada said that he started at 2 o’clock in his village on Saturday and reached Gollapudi by 5 o clock.