Vijayawada: With Vijayawada expanding as a political, commercial, educational, and healthcare hub, particularly after the revival of Amaravati-centric development, traffic congestion has emerged as one of the city’s most persistent civic challenges. Daily gridlock across arterial corridors such as Eluru Road, Bandar Road, and NH-16 has significantly impacted commuting times, leaving vehicle users stranded for long intervals at traffic junctions.Against this backdrop, 2026 is being widely viewed as a potential turning point, with the Vijayawada West Bypass positioned as a critical intervention to ease the city’s long-standing traffic burden.The Rs 2,700 crore road infrastructure project, spanning nearly 48 kilometres and being constructed in two packages from Chinna Avutapalli to Gollapudi, and Gollapudi to Chinna Kakani under the hybrid annuity model, will divert traffic from Vijayawada city on NH-16 and NH-65. The Chinna Avutapalli to Gollapudi stretch of the West Bypass features the Bahubali bridge constructed across Krishna river, which will serve as a crucial road to reach Amaravati, the capital city.“For a city like Vijayawada, which doesn’t have heavy traffic density compared to metro cities, this level of traffic chaos is unacceptable,” a citizen shared his anguish on a social media platform, pointing to the growing traffic menace.Another citizen said they anticipate 2026 to be the beginning of the end of the perennial traffic woes in the city with the inauguration of the West Bypass road in a full-fledged manner.Vijayawada West Bypass is designed to divert non-city-bound traffic, especially heavy vehicles, away from the congested urban grid. Once fully operational, it is expected to decongest the arterial and sub-arterial roads from heavy vehicles, which are plying on the city roads, leading to frequent traffic jams and occasional gridlocks.“Although the major works concerning the 46-kilometre bypass road stretch were completed long ago, a minor portion spanning around 500 metres involving the electric high tension lines, which requires the raising of the cables, was stalled for a long period due to court cases. This has been almost resolved, and the NHAI is working with the contracting agency to complete the remaining pending works on the half-kilometre stretch by Jan 31, 2026, and open the bypass road for vehicular traffic,” NHAI Vijayawada PIU project director Vidyasagar said told STOI.
