Jakarta: Millions of Indonesians were stuck for hours in traffic jams on Wednesday as they traveled back to their hometowns to celebrate Eid Al-Fitr with their families.
Nearly 144 million people, about half of the Indonesian population, are expected to travel for the holiday that marks the end of Ramadan this year, according to a government survey.
Indonesian authorities are expecting nearly 22 million people to hit the roads on Wednesday alone, with traffic jams of up to 15 km forming on Java’s highways by the morning, including on the Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Skyway and the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road, which links the Greater Jakarta area with cities in the province of West Java.
“The number of people leaving the Greater Jakarta area continues to increase ahead of the Eid Al-Fitr holiday,” Rivan A. Purwantono, president director of Indonesian toll-road operator Jasa Marga, said in a statement.
“Road users should anticipate surges in traffic volume and carefully plan their trips.”
Locally known as “mudik,” the mass homecoming in the Muslim-majority nation is one of the world’s greatest movements of people.
Mudik is often associated with hours of traffic jams, especially on the main island of Java, where the top four destinations are located: Central Java, East Java, West Java and Yogyakarta.
The holiday rush also sparked extreme congestion on the road to Bali’s Gilimanuk port, with vehicles destined for Java lining up for up to 11 km to reach the crossing. On Sunday, the line reportedly stretched up to 35 km.
Over 160,000 police and security personnel have been deployed in over 2,700 locations across Indonesia to safeguard the annual homecoming rush until March 25.
This year, more than 76 million Indonesians are expected to travel with private cars, according to a transport ministry survey, while 24 million will be using motorbikes and another 23 million are taking buses.
