Three-hour traffic snarl on Bengaluru's Ballari Road amid Aero India frenzy

Bengaluru: For over three hours on Tuesday morning, traffic movement along Ballari Road towards the airport crawled for nearly four kilometres as vehicles tried to make their way into Aero India 2025’s second day.

A lot more delegates, exhibitors, and their families visited on the second day, which will see multiple static displays and ten flying displays. These displays include a KC-135 by the US Air Force, a Su-57 from Russia, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s (HAL) Light Combat Aircraft Mk-1A and Light Utility Helicopter, and the Indian Air Force’s Su-30MKI and Surya Kiran displays.

On Tuesday morning however, vehicles stalled and trundled along Ballari Road, with at least a 3.5-km traffic jam around 11 am. The situation was similar from 8 am, with Hebbal junction seeing a gradual slowdown of traffic over the next few hours.

Near Kogilu Cross, which is over 3.5 km away from the Air Force station, Yelahanka’s entrance, traffic almost came to a standstill around 9 am. Vehicles spilled onto five lanes on the main road and three lanes on the service road between these two points, which made it worse. Many vehicles took time to obtain security clearance and enter the station premises, which created a ripple effect onto the rest of the road.

Given the situation during the exhibitors, media and delegates-only days, the traffic situation is expected to worsen on public viewing days on February 13 and 14.