Massive traffic jams greeted people rushing to board buses and trains from various stations in the city — including the central Majestic area — on Monday night. All roads leading out of Bangalore, especially Mysore Road and Hosur Road, were choked as traffic moved at a snail's pace.
Those travelling on Mysore Road bore the brunt as vehicles were stranded for a while. “It took more than an hour for us to cross the five-km stretch from the end of Sirsi Circle flyover up to Bangalore University junction,” said L.K. Ahmed, who was driving to Mysore after work.
The situation was worse on Hosur Road, which saw a sea of humanity hop across to the Tamil Nadu border at Hosur to buy firecrackers at hugely discounted prices.
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Massive gridlocks
Roads in the vicinity of the Majestic bus stand and railway station witnessed massive gridlocks. The festival rush also affected free flow of traffic in residential areas.
There was bumper-to-bumper traffic on all roads leading to Majestic. Vehicles were stranded on Kempe Gowda Road, J.C. Road, Dr. Rajkumar Road, Platform Road, Seshadri Road, Goods Shed Road, Cottonpet Main Road and Mysore Road for nearly an hour between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m.
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According to the traffic police, Richmond Road, Raja Rammohun Roy Road, Residency Road, Mahatma Gandhi Road and Brigade Road too witnessed traffic jams.
Well and truly stuck
Passengers in autorickshaws and cars near K.R. Circle, Old Madras Road, J.C. Road, N.R. Road and Kempe Gowda Road, complained that they were stuck on the same spot for nearly an hour.
Cubbon Road, Ambedkar Veedhi Road, C.M.H. Road, HAL Airport Road, R.T. Nagar main road, Bellary roads also witnessed traffic jams forcing commuters who were going back home after a hard day's work to take diversions.