Bengaluru’s roads ground to a halt last Saturday evening as a confluence of factors—the Chief Minister’s city tour, swelling weekend crowds, and enthusiastic festival shoppers—converged to create gridlock at numerous key junctions across the city.
The Central Business District (CBD) and popular shopping areas bore the brunt of the chaos. Traffic crawled at a snail’s pace along iconic stretches like M.G. Road, Brigade Road, Residency Road, Avenue Road, S.P. Road, and B.V.K. Iyengar Road, testing the patience of countless commuters.
Hours-Long Delays Became the New Normal
Meenakshi S., a resident of Banashankari, deeply regretted her decision to take K.R. Market Road. What should have been a short 9-kilometer journey to Infantry Road in the city’s heart transformed into a grueling two-hour ordeal. She recounted, “The K.R. Market stretch was exceptionally bad, overwhelmed by a mix of shoppers and outstation travelers. I spent at least 30 minutes just trying to navigate that one section.”
A senior traffic police officer from the East Division explained to a local publication that the severe weekend congestion was exacerbated by bus diversions, which were implemented to facilitate white-topping construction work on J.C. Road. “We redirected buses that typically use J.C. Road onto multiple alternative routes. These roads became heavily choked on Saturday, especially with the surge of festival shoppers,” the officer stated.
The ripple effect extended far beyond K.R. Market Road. These diversions led to immense congestion in Shanthinagar, effectively choking Kengal Hanumanthaiah Road and causing traffic to spill over onto Mission Road and K.S. Thimmaiah Road.
Devendra Kumar, another Shanthinagar resident, voiced his frustration after being stuck on Residency Road for nearly half an hour. “Normally, it takes only about 10 minutes to reach Cubbon Park from Residency Road, but on Saturday afternoon, I was motionless in traffic for 30 minutes. The roads were completely jammed, with vehicles barely moving—it was an incredibly frustrating wait that pushed everyone’s patience to the limit,” he shared.
Meanwhile, in the eastern part of the city, Mysuru Road near Kengeri witnessed massive crowds at the bus station. This, combined with a significant number of cars departing Bengaluru for the long weekend, resulted in severe bottlenecks.
Soudhamini N., a college professor heading home to Mysuru, described being stranded in Kengeri for approximately an hour due to the overwhelming traffic.
A police officer stationed in the CBD confirmed that weekend crowds had undeniably worsened the traffic situation in the area. Lengthy queues of vehicles were observed along M.G. Road, Brigade Road, Church Street, Central Street, Kamaraj Road, Mayo Hall junction, and Halasuru Road.
Northern Bengaluru fared no better, with Ballari Road and the notorious Hebbal Junction experiencing severe congestion. East Bengaluru’s Old Madras Road, particularly the stretch from Benniganahalli Lake to K.R. Puram Bus Stop, saw some of the worst traffic snarls, further compounded by the Chief Minister’s ongoing city rounds.