VIJAYAWADA: Highways were clogged and toll plazas choked as the Sankranti influx peaked on Sunday, pushing transport systems across Andhra Pradesh to the brink despite round-the-clock special services, and enhanced traffic management measures.
APSRTC bus stations in Vijayawada, Guntur, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati witnessed heavy crowds from the early hours of the day with passengers waiting for hours to board buses to their native villages.
The passenger rush was particularly intense on routes connecting Krishna, twin Godavari, and North Andhra districts, reflecting the large-scale movement of people returning home for the harvest festival.
To cope with the passenger rush, APSRTC has deployed a total of 8,432 special bus services for Sankranti. Of the total, 6,000 bus services have been confined to intra-state routes, catering to demand within AP, while 2,432 buses have been deployed on inter-State corridors linking the State with Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai.
Despite the expanded RTC bus services, demand has remained high on peak days, forcing many passengers to explore private transport. To meet the festive rush, RTC is operating special bus services from January 8 to 14. During the first week, around 2,000 bus services have been planned.
200 special buses being run daily from PNBS
From Pandit Nehru Bus Station (PNBS) in Vijayawada, daily 200 special buses are being operated. The special bus services will also be operated in the next three days, primarily from Hyderabad. No additional fare is charged in the RTC special bus services,” Pavan Kumar, Deputy Chief Traffic Manager, PNBS, told TNIE.
On the other hand, toll plazas have been witnessing a massive vehicular movement. According to the Keesara toll plaza staff, around 55,000 vehicles crossed it from Saturday morning to Sunday evening, resulting in long queues and slow-moving traffic. Toll plaza operators opened seven out of 10 lanes, and deployed extra personnel to maintain steady vehicle flow.
It may be noted that around 1.30 lakh vehicles crossed the Panthangi toll plaza in Telangana during the same period, and officials indicated that a significant portion of this vehicular movement was towards Andhra Pradesh, particularly bound to Vijayawada, leading to severe congestion on inter-state highways and feeder roads.
‘’Usually I reach Vijayawada within four hours in my car from LB Nagar. However, this time it has taken 7 hours,” said K Srikanth, who is going to his native village Arthamuru in Bantumilli mandal of Krishna district.
The Vijayawada-Machilipatnam stretch of NH-65 emerged as a key relief route, absorbing a large volume of festival traffic. This stretch was predominantly used by vehicles travelling towards Narasapur, Bhimavaram, Razole, Amalapuram and Kakinada, and even further north towards Visakhapatnam. From Machilipatnam, vehicles enter the Kathipudi National Highway (NH-216 coastal highway).
About 9,000 vehicles crossed Davuluru toll plaza near Kankipadu on NH 65 in the last 24 hours. “We are expecting heavy vehicular movement in the next few days. We have taken all measures to ease vehicle congestion on the route,” said N Siva Shankar, manager of toll plaza.