Over 12 lakh vehicles in 2 days! Prayagraj faces traffic mayhem as Maha Kumbh rush chokes city routes

PRAYAGRAJ: After two days of massive traffic congestion, which saw vehicles stretching up to 15km on routes leading to the Sangam City, commuters, including pilgrims and daily travelers, experienced some relief on Monday.
The traffic on Monday, compared to the chaotic Saturday and Sunday, saw a significant reduction, with vehicles stretching up to only 2 to 5km at key entry points towards Prayagraj.
However, traffic police officials said that traffic was still moving at a slow pace on the Varanasi-Prayagraj and Prayagraj-Rewa routes due to a high volume of vehicles.
On Monday, traffic congestion was primarily reported near parking slots set up on the city's border points, and along all seven main routes leading to the Sangam.
DCP (Traffic) and assistant nodal officer for Maha Kumbh, Neeraj Kumar Pandey, confirmed to TOI that the traffic situation had improved on the streets and highways connecting to Prayagraj, though congestion was still being reported at temporary parking areas.
The authorities had also conducted videography on all routes to monitor the situation.
Pandey highlighted that the previous weekend (Saturday and Sunday) saw a massive rush of devotees, with long queues of vehicles trying to enter the Maha Kumbh area.
Some of the major trouble spots included Nawabganj-Kaurihar, 25km before Prayagraj from the Lucknow side, a bottleneck at Gauhania, 16-20km before Rewa Road, and a traffic snarl extending 8-10 km each towards Prayagraj, Andhawa, and Varanasi.
The DCP attributed the chaos to three main factors: the lifting of the no-vehicle zone after February 5, the weekend rush, and a significant number of pilgrims choosing to travel in their private vehicles. It was estimated that over 12 lakh vehicles had arrived in Prayagraj over the past two days, contributing to the severe traffic jam.