Heavy traffic was witnessed at Panthangi toll plaza near Choutuppal and Korlhapahad toll plaza on national highway-65 (Hyderabad-Vijayawada) ahead of the festival, in the district on Friday.
Vehicles in large numbers started arriving at toll plazas from 4 p.m. and continued till late evening. However, no vehicular queue lasted for more than five minutes, officials said.
Anticipating a large traffic burst ahead of Sankranthi that comes after a weekend, the plaza managers said all the additional lanes were kept open. And hand-held machines were brought in to ensure faster traffic flow.
At about 6 p.m., the Panthangi plaza saw huge traffic for a short while that eased up later. It was learnt that 2,000 more vehicles than on usual days passed through the Korlapahad toll plaza near Kethepally, by 8 p.m. As some vehicles would divert near Narketpally, before reaching Korlapahad toll gate, onto the Chennai highway for Tirupati and Nellore, about 30% more traffic was expected at Panthangi.
In total, five lanes at Korlapahad and seven lanes at Panthangi towards Vijayawada, were made available for motorists. The toll staff predict similar traffic on Tuesday evening when people head back to the State capital after the festival. The Police Department said adequate security and surveillance measures were ensured.
