As Holy Week travel kicked off, thousands of holiday travelers faced crippling traffic congestion Thursday morning along the major highway leading to the Dominican Republic’s southern region. What began as steady flow quickly spiraled into a standstill, with a multi-kilometer backup building near the Baní bypass exit that extended all the way to the Ocoa intersection, leaving dozens of motorists stranded for hours.
The gridlock upended travel plans for thousands of people heading to southern coastal tourist destinations and family gatherings for the Easter holiday, bringing movement along the corridor to a near-complete halt. Local transit authorities had pre-emptively implemented emergency measures to boost traffic flow, including opening both northbound lanes to southbound travel to accommodate the surge of outbound travelers from the capital. But these adjustments failed to prevent chaos, as widespread driver confusion and unregulated movement exacerbated congestion rather than easing it.
Multiple motorists stuck in the backup reported that many drivers ignored adjusted lane markings and signage, continuing to use incorrect lanes that created abrupt bottlenecks across the already overstretched roadway. Observers also noted a critical lack of visible on-site guidance from traffic officials to direct driver movement, turning a congestion mitigation design into the primary flashpoint for the gridlock.
Transit planners had anticipated a significant increase in outbound traffic for Holy Week, a popular holiday period for Dominicans to leave the capital city and travel to southern vacation hubs. But the sheer volume of vehicles hit the road much earlier and in greater numbers than projected, quickly overwhelming the existing road infrastructure and turning the Baní bypass into the worst congestion hot spot within the first hours of the holiday travel window.