Overview
- The Gandhi Jayanti long weekend produced a large exodus that clogged key routes to Himachal and Uttarakhand and choked Chennai’s southern exits, with coverage showing hours-long standstills and viral footage of bumper-to-bumper traffic.
- Hotspots included long queues on the Kalka–Shimla highway, a roughly seven-kilometre jam on the Badrinath/Hemkund route, heavy crowds at Kainchi Dham and Kedarnath, GST Road congestion and packed platforms at Kilambakkam, and five-hour snarls in Kancheepuram.
- State and local police deployed traffic personnel and issued advisories, and Rudraprayag Police confirmed sharply higher pilgrim numbers at Kedarnath and asked devotees to queue and follow rules.
- Local capacity shortfalls worsened the problem, with narrow mountain roads, ongoing roadworks in some towns and a reported shortage of traffic staff in Kancheepuram leaving authorities reacting rather than preventing gridlock.
- The jams raised immediate safety and welfare concerns for stranded travellers, prompted calls for measures such as parking hubs and vehicle restrictions, and highlighted a recurring planning gap for predictable holiday surges.