Bengaluru: Post-holiday traffic tsunami overwhelms Tumakuru Road

Monday morning saw unprecedented traffic congestion on Tumakuru Road as crowds returning from the long festive weekend flooded the city.

The stretch experienced persistent congestion from Madavara to the Goraguntepalya metro station early in the day. This created a ripple effect on the Outer Ring Road, with traffic stagnating up to three kilometres towards Hebbal. 

“The flyover was clogged, especially at the CMTI Junction, from around 6 am. People coming from Tumakuru had no choice but to cross Goraguntepalya and Yeshwantpur,” said a senior officer from the Yeshwantpur traffic police station.

MN Anucheth, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Bengaluru City, described the situation as an “extremely heavy” inflow of traffic. “We observed about 4.2 kilometres of congestion on Tumakuru Road from Nelamangala, five to six times the usual traffic. It was cleared only by 12.30 pm,” he said.

The city also recorded around 3.3 mm of rain overnight, according to the Bengaluru City Observatory of the Meteorological Centre. However, this did not cause waterlogging or add to the congestion.

Ballari Road saw double the usual Monday morning congestion, with the usual 792 metres of traffic stretching to nearly 1.4 kilometres.

Hebbal Junction was also choked with slow-moving traffic, particularly the lane carrying inbound traffic from the airport. Navigation apps showed a streak of red extending as far as Jakkur Main Road to the north and Nagawara to the east.

The newly opened service road through Kempegowda Park under the flyover offered little relief, said a senior officer from the North Division of the traffic police, noting that vehicles moved slowly there as well. “It took about 25 minutes for vehicles to cross from Esteem Mall to the Hebbal Junction,” he added.

Meanwhile, Mysuru Road — especially the stretch between the Nayandahalli metro station and the Satellite Bus Stand — saw a high volume of vehicles, but not as much congestion as expected. “Traffic came in waves throughout the weekend, so we had manageable levels of congestion on Saturday and Sunday, which helped reduce Monday's load,” said a senior officer from the West Division.

Crash on Peenya flyover

A reported brake failure led a KSRTC bus to crash into several vehicles on the Peenya flyover on Tumakuru Road near 8th Mile.

While no casualties were reported, two goods vehicles and two cars were damaged due to the crash. According to the bus driver’s statement to the police, the brakes had failed.

The incident occurred around 9 pm and caused significant traffic congestion on Tumakuru Road for over an hour.

A jammed Airport Road near Hebbal flyover on Monday.