BENGALURU: The start of the long weekend did not go as planned for thousands of revellers as traffic jams on all roads leading out of the city kept them on the roads well through the morning. The situation was compounded by the fact that several protests and rallies in the city created massive traffic jams.
Exit points on Mysuru Road, Ballari Road and Tumakuru Road saw heavy traffic eventually leading to a slowdown in traffic moment, delaying travel by hours. With Christmas and New Year round the corner, hundreds of city residents headed out for a holiday.
Besides this, extra buses run by both private- and state-owned travel operators led to further jams. About 500 extra buses were added by the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) starting from Mysuru Road, Majestic and Shantinagar. Tumakuru Road was among the stretches that saw heavy traffic as early as 7 am.
“Travel that usually takes 45 minutes, took over two hours on Saturday,” said Meera R, a city resident. “To reach Nelamangala from Gorguntepalya, it has taken us over an hour. There was heavy traffic on the Yeshwanthpur flyover as well. It was mostly four wheelers on the road,” she added. This stretch of road connects Bengaluru to Tumakuru, Hassan and leads to the Mangaluru highway.
The situation was same on Mysore Road in the morning. Early morning commuters were greeted with traffic that was crippled at various locations. Slow moving traffic was seen from Nayanadahalli all the way to Ramanagara and beyond. “There was heavy traffic around Mysore Road. There was disruption around Ramnagar and Bidadi as well,” said Abhijith Revankar, a resident of Basaveshwarnagar. It took him over an hour more than the usual to reach Mysuru. The situation is expected to be similar on Monday evening or Tuesday morning when the holidaymakers return to the city.
White topping makes things worse
White topping work, ongoing across several roads in the city, made the traffic disruption worse. On Hosur Road, Mysuru Road and Tumakuru Road, stretches have been blocked as white topping is in progress. This threw traffic out of gear on Saturday. Suhas N travels to a factory in Peenya. While on usual days, he takes about 15 minutes to cover the stretch between Govaradhan to People Tree Hospital, he said that it took him over 30 minutes on Saturday. “There were many people headed out of the city. Also, as a part of the road is blocked, regular commuters on the stretch reached late. Many office goers got delayed,” he said.