Bhubaneswar: As the marriage season reaches its peak, several arterial roads across the city are choking under the weight of wedding-related traffic. Lavish banquet halls, many of which boast grand dining spaces but lack basic parking facilities, are forcing guests to spill their vehicles onto busy streets. The result: long traffic snarls, frustrated commuters, and a mounting safety hazard.
The chaos outside these venues is becoming increasingly dangerous. Ambulances, school buses, and office-goers often find themselves trapped for extended periods as rows of illegally parked cars narrow crucial stretches of road. Residents argue that this is a glaring loophole that the administration continues to overlook every wedding season. “The city forgets about commuters whenever there’s a major event,” a daily traveller remarked.
City authorities admit that the crisis has deep structural roots. Many of these banquet halls were approved years ago—long before Bhubaneswar’s rapid growth in vehicle ownership and urban density. Officials concede that several such venues now require a fresh review, especially concerning parking and traffic management.
Traffic police, meanwhile, are struggling to cope with the surge. With limited manpower and multiple events occurring simultaneously, enforcement becomes nearly impossible. Officers say wedding organisers must share responsibility by arranging off-site parking, hiring shuttle services, or ensuring coordinated traffic support.
The situation is most severe along NH-316, the Puri Bypass, where the number of banquet halls has risen sharply in recent years. Despite its six-lane design, the highway often shrinks to four—or even two—usable lanes due to haphazard roadside parking. The bottlenecks not only slow daily commuters but also pose major risks during emergencies.
Urban planners warn that Bhubaneswar’s growing car ownership, combined with the cultural clustering of weddings during specific months, demands smarter planning and quicker interventions. Proposed solutions include:
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Shared parking hubs for banquet halls located in high-density clusters
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Digital traffic alerts to warn commuters of congestion
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Staggered event timings to reduce peak-hour overlap
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Mandatory parking capacity norms for venue approvals
Unless these measures are implemented, experts fear that wedding seasons will continue to paralyse the city’s road network year after year.
-OdishaAge
