NH-65 sees Sankranthi-like rush for May 13 polling in A.P.

High-volume traffic on NH-65 as residents head home for polling in Andhra Pradesh, causing congestion at toll plaza.

The NH-65 (Hyderabad-Vijayawada), the bridge between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, witnessed high-volume motor traffic on Saturday as residents headed back home to participate in the polling on May 13.

Andhra Pradesh goes to polls for its 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly constituencies in the fourth phase. Scenes of traffic congestion started as early as Friday evening at LB Nagar junction, the exit point of Hyderabad towards the highway. Combined with the weekend, the home-bound traffic rose incrementally as State transport and private buses and cars flowed throughout the night and on Saturday.

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According to officials operating the Pantangi toll plaza, the highway looked like any city’s arterial road as cars consistently navigated the Outer Ring Road onto the highway. As per figures maintained by them, about 20,000 vehicles exited the plaza between 6 a.m. and 12 noon on Saturday. It was also during this time that traffic experienced a bottleneck situation at the mouth of the plaza and vehicles started to back-up for nearly a kilometre’s distance. The plaza officials who usually maintain an equal number of eight lanes towards Vijayawada and Hyderabad, then enhanced the number of lanes towards Vijayawada.

Between 12 noon and 6 p.m., the number of vehicles recorded was 15,000. Officials predicted that the numbers for the next six hours would record another 15,000 vehicles, taking the day’s traffic flow rate to about 50,000 passenger car unit – a peak number recorded on a single day during the harvest festival of Sankranthi.