Traffic went haywire on Wednesday, as Onam shoppers poured into the city in large numbers.
Heavy congestion was experienced at majority of the roads in the city thanks to the huge flow of private and other vehicles from various places into the busy shopping areas. Traffic snarls were severe on MG Road, Sahodaran Ayappan Road and Chittoor Road.
Vehicles were seen remaining in serpentine queues from Kadavanthra to Ernakulam South in the evening. Many buses were stuck near Valanjambalam and Sahodaran Ayyappan Road. Traffic from Rajendra Maidan premises to Menaka also moved at snail's pace.
Movement through the National Highway route from Aluva to Edappally and Edappally to Aroor was also severely affected. Passengers said bus travel from Aroor to Vyttila took at least one hour compared to the half-an-hour journey during normal days.
The Aluva-Edappally route was jampacked for hours in the morning thanks to the road repair work being carried out near Companipadi. Traffic also went haywire along the Vyttila-Edappally bypass route in the evening. Vehicles parked in the no-parking zone areas near a shopping mall along the National Highway bypass added to the chaos.
People alleged that the police should have introduced a better mechanism to ease the traffic congestion especially during the festival season. Police officials attributed the sudden spurt in the number of private vehicles reaching the city from various parts of the district and neighbouring districts, as the main cause for the traffic snarls. They said that people depended on their vehicles rather than on public transport to do last-minute shopping.
Traders in the city said that business might get affected as people would like to stay away from the city in view of the heavy traffic on festival occasions. The Ernakulam Merchants' Association and other organisations have urged the authorities to initiate steps to ease the congestion.
