Thrissur: A massive traffic snarl-up on National Highway 544 at Muringoor here on Saturday left commuters stranded for hours. According to reports, hundreds of vehicles were stuck on a 10-kilometre stretch of the road towards Ernakulam since morning.

Some drivers told Manorama News that they had been stuck on the road since 2 am and criticised the authorities for failing to repair the huge potholes.

Vehicles remained stranded for over 10 km in the stretch of Muringoor to Kodakara road after a massive traffic block that began at 11 pm on Friday continued without relief.

The gridlock was triggered after a timber-laden lorry veered into a ditch on the service road and overturned, spilling logs across the road around 8 pm. Though police, fire force, and locals worked through the night to clear the timber, the service road was left badly damaged with deep craters due to heavy vehicle movement.

With the national highway clogged, Chalakudy town came to a standstill. Roads leading into the town from various directions also witnessed severe congestion.

Despite hours of traffic disruption, commuters criticised the authorities for failing to take effective steps to ease the chaos.

NH 544 is a crucial route for passengers from Thrissur to major destinations, including Cochin International Airport, Technopark, and Infopark. News channels reported that vehicular movement was disrupted entirely between Potta and Muringoor. It is learnt that lapses of the authorities in maintaining the service roads led to the traffic block.

Apart from Muringoor, heavy congestion is regularly reported on Chirangara and Koratty stretches of NH 544 following the commencement of underpass construction. Even ambulances heading to major hospitals in Kochi often get caught in the bottleneck.

Traffic congestion is a regular issue on the Angamaly-Thrissur stretch of NH 544. On August 6, the Kerala High Court ordered a four-week halt on toll collection at Paliyekkara, citing lapses of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) in resolving the persistent traffic congestion along the Mannuthy-Edappally stretch.