Hyderabad: With two days to go for Sankranthi, the Hyderabad-Vijayawada national highway is witnessing a severe last-minute traffic congestion for four consecutive days.
Since Friday, January 10, the festive traffic has escalated into a prolonged gridlock, with vehicles stretching over a kilometer.
Major slowdowns, jams
At key bottleneck locations, the congestion is intense. Major slowdowns and jams are reported at ongoing underpass bridge construction sites near Chityal and Pedda Kaparthi.
Further delays are occurring at the major town crossings along the route, specifically in Choutuppal, Kattangur, and Suryapet.
In order to tackle the situation, the toll plaza operations have been significantly expanded. At the Pantangi toll plaza, 11 out of 16 total booths are now operational for traffic heading towards Vijayawada. Similarly, the Korlapadu toll plaza has opened 6 of its 12 booths in the same direction to ensure the flow of vehicle movement.
Traffic on Hyderabad-Vijayawada national highway may continue
Though attempts, including aerial surveillance of the affected stretches using drone cameras to monitor traffic build-ups in real time, are being taken, the situation is unlikely to ease immediately.
Officials have stated that the heavy traffic congestion is expected to persist on the highway throughout today and tomorrow.
In the past four days, over four lakh vehicles have used the Hyderabad-Vijayawada National Highway.
Although 6,431 special operations buses were announced by the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC) from January 9 to 13 to tackle the festive rush, bus stands across the city were packed with travellers eager to celebrate the harvest festival with their loved ones.
These buses will operate from major hubs in Hyderabad, such as Mahatma Gandhi Bus Stop (MGBS), Jubilee Bus Station (JBS), Uppal Cross Roads, Aramghar, LB Nagar Cross Roads, Kukatpally Housing Board Colony (KPHB), Bowenpally, and Gachibowli.
