Bengaluru witnessed a massive traffic jam on Wednesday, September 27, ahead of a long weekend and bandh called by farmer bodies against the release of Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu.
Bumper-to-bumper traffic and long queues stretched across several kilometers caused inconvenience for the commuters for several hours. According to police, the traffic flow suddenly increased between 5 pm and 8 pm as many office-goers started returning home.
The well-known Outer Ring Road (ORR) stretch and neighboring districts, which include major tech parks where around 10 lakh IT personnel arrive daily, experienced unprecedented gridlock on Wednesday.
One of the main reasons was that many people were headed out of the city due to a five-day long weekend starting from Thursday.
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The Outer Ring Road (ORR) Companies Association, representing businesses between Central Silk Board Junction and KR Puram, has also advised its members to notify staff to extend their exit time to avoid the ORR jam.
Traffic police called the situation “unprecedented” on the Outer Ring Road (between Silk Board Junction and KR Puram) and the surrounding areas.
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What led to the massive traffic jam?
According to The Bengaluru Traffic Police Department, multiple factors caused the traffic congestion in the region:
1) Traffic was twice as heavy as usual. On Wednesdays, the usual vehicle count is 1.5 to 2 lakh. As of 7.30 p.m. on September 27, it stood at 3.5 lakh.
2) Many people were heading out of the city following a long five-day weekend starting from today. Eid Milad-Un Nabi, a gazetted holiday, will be celebrated today. The city will remain shut tomorrow due to the Bengaluru bandh called by the protesters over the Cauvery Water dispute, followed by Saturday and Sunday. The birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, October 2, is also a national holiday.
3) Waterlogging on several interior roads due to heavy rain caused traffic woes in several parts of the city.
4) Multiple vehicle breakdowns between 3.30 and 5 p.m. on highways already congested by metro construction. At least six vehicles were damaged: four cars, one heavy goods vehicle, and one light goods vehicle.
‘1 km in 2 hours’
Many commuters, who were stuck in traffic for hours at length, took to X (formerly Twitter), to share their plight of wading through gridlocks around the ORR stretch.
“+1. 5 kms in last 3 hours. It’s horrible!,” a user wrote. Meanwhile, another user said that it took two hours to cover 1 km.
A commuter, Shilpi Sahu, posted an image of the traffic queue on X and wrote, “If you are stuck in traffic today, remember that ‘YOU are the traffic.’ And the government’s plan to end traffic jams is to build a tunnel for you where such bird’s-eye views can’t be clicked, thus tarnishing the fame of Bengaluru. Name and fame matter, not livability.”
An X user also claimed that a school bus dropped kids home from school at 8 pm, owing to massive traffic in Bengaluru. Sharing screenshots of a chat, he wrote, “Not to forget kids. Some school buses dropped kids at 8 pm!”
Meanwhile, another citizen came in favor of the government and blamed the people for the root cause of the jam. He wrote, “Just a friendly reminder that traffic jams are not created by traffic police or buses. ‘We, the people create traffic. Out of 10,000,000 vehicles in our city, just 6500 are @BMTC_BENGALURU buses. If even 25% of the car users today used a bus, there would not be a traffic jam.”
Rohith Kashyap shared the video of the incident and said, “HSR layout flyover towards Sarjapur and Bellandur at 8.15 pm. I experienced one of the worst days of my life in Blr traffic. Left Eco World at 3.45 pm and reached Kathriguppe at 9.15 pm. Traffic horror in Bengaluru.”
BJP MP P C Mohan also tweeted to express his concern. He said, “Bengaluru’s tech hub, ORR, faced an unprecedented traffic jam, trapping techies, office-goers, and school buses for almost 4 hours. The Baiyappanahalli-KR Puram metro link could have eased this, but the State Govt’s inaction, despite CMRS approval, prolongs the suffering.”