Heavy rain that lashed the city coupled with the last minute rush by people to shop before Onam brought several parts of the city to a standstill on Wednesday. Pedestrians were the only segment who could move comfortably on the city’s arterial roads on the day, which saw vehicles moving at a snail’s pace due to heavy inflow of vehicles.
Traffic in the city went haywire right from morning till late in the evening. In the morning rush hour, scores of vehicles carrying students to schools and colleges and other vehicles were scene lined up on all the main stretches for a long time leaving traffic enforcers clueless in managing the flow of vehicles.
The situation was more chaotic in the evening with large number of people coming out to shop. Malfunctioning of traffic signals due to the rain added to the chaos.
“It took me more than 45 minutes to crawl from Vattiyurkavu to Vazhuthacaud in the morning. It was unprecedented and the scene was similar to one in metros,” said Sashidharan, a commuter.
Commuting in the city turned stressful with bumper-to-bumper traffic on most roads and the police were helpless due to the heavy inflow of vehicles.
Suresh Kumar, Traffic, Circle Inspector, said the traffic was affected the entire day with Mahatma Gandhi Road, the stretches from Museum to Sasthamangalam, from Thampanoor to Karamana, from Chakka to Vallakadavu and East Fort bearing the maximum brunt.
The traffic jam, he said was mainly because of the heavy rush for shopping and since it rained most people preferred to travel by car or by autorickshaws. “The hartal on Tuesday added to the problem as people postponed their shopping to the next day. Private cars were more in numbers as people kept their two-wheelers at home due to the rain,” he said.
In the coming days, more than 100 additional traffic policemen would be deployed on the roads to regulate traffic. “If it’s going to rain for the next two days, things are going to be more difficult,” he added.
