What caused the unprecedented traffic jam in Bengaluru?

Bengaluru's traffic is bad most of the time but was embarrassingly awful on Wednesday. But how did the city get there?

A traffic police statement called the situation along the Outer Ring Road (between Silk Board Junction and KR Puram) and the surrounding areas "unprecedented".

Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M N Anucheth, who personally monitored the situation at the ORR, gave four reasons for another low for Bengaluru's bad traffic:

1) Traffic was two times the normal. The usual vehicle count on Wednesdays is 1.5 to 2 lakh. It was 3.5 lakh today (September 27) as of 7.30 pm.

"The ORR stretch from Marathahalli to Silk Board Junction usually sees 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh vehicles on Wednesdays. That number shot up to 3.59 lakh as of 7.30 pm. It will go up even higher towards the night."

According to Anucheth, because of Tuesday's bandh, a lot of employees have come back to work and tried to exit at the same time. The upcoming long weekend only added to the problem. "Lots of people are leaving Bengaluru," he added.

"Because of the bandh yesterday, a lot of employees have come to work and tried to exit at the same time today evening," he said.

2) Long weekend: While September 28 (Thursday) is a public holiday (Eid Meelad-un-Nabi), a statewide bandh has been called on September 29 (Friday) over the Cauvery issue. October 2 is again a public holiday (Gandhi Jayanti).

"It could well be a five-day weekend from tomorrow," Anucheth said. "Lots of people living in that area (ORR and the surroundings) are exiting Bangalore."

3) Rains caused waterlogging on several interior roads.

4) Multiple vehicle breakdowns between 3.30 pm and 5 pm on roads already narrowed by metro work.

At least six vehicles — four cars, one heavy goods vehicle, and one light goods vehicle — broke down between 3.30 and 5 pm along the ORR due to engine issues and tyre punctures, according to the traffic police.

"As soon as we cleared these vehicles, traffic piled up again," he added.

Heat map reveals unusually high congestion

A congestion heat map shared by the traffic police showed that a typical Wednesday between Tin Factory and Silk Board usually sees 197 congestion alerts. However, September 27 saw a whopping 1,069 congestion alerts.

Similarly, congestion length on a typical Wednesday along that stretch is 40 km but went up to 226 km on September 27.