The jam which stretched for over 5-kms, starting from the Sanathal Circle, had no less than 5,000 cars stuck. The jam could only be cleared after police officials from six different police stations were deployed there. The cops had to toil for three hours before the situation could be resolved.
The problem started at around 5.30 pm when a trailer-truck loaded with two king-sized shipping containers broke down near the Sanathal overbridge blocking one side of the road. The blockage put the traffic flow out of sync. Vehicles coming from Sanathal towards Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar and vice-versa got stuck in the mess for more than three hours.
It was finally at 8.30 pm when the traffic started moving again after the trailer was repaired and removed from the way. Police officials said that they have detained the driver and seized the truck to verify the documents. After the trailer broke down, traffic disintegrated into a mess. With no highway traffic police to monitor the situation, each driver tried to get out first by driving his vehicle around the trailer. The highway was soon chock-a-block with no space to move.
"It was massive jam. As it was not possible to tow the huge trailer, we got it repaired and then traffic started moving again," said Rajiv Ranjan Bhagat, superintendent of police, Ahmedabad (rural).
Police teams from Satellite and Vejalpur police stations were also deployed to clear out the jam. Police officials said that a religious gathering close to the accident site in the evening had a large attendance this also added to the jam.
"I was going towards Vejalpur from Gandhinagar but got stuck in a traffic jam near Prahladnagar at 6.30 pm. While evening are a busy time for SG Highway but I have never seen such a long queue of cars due to traffic jam on the road. For more than two hours my car was stuck at a place and at around 8.30 the traffic started moving slowly," said a senior state government official who was among the many stranded in the jam.