What Highways Actually Do on 15 August

Every year, a large number of Indians look at a calendar, see 15 August sitting next to a weekend, and have the same idea at the same time: let’s drive somewhere. The result is predictable to anyone who has tried it. The first morning of the long weekend can turn highways out of big cities into slow-moving car parks, and the last evening brings the same scene in reverse.

This piece is not about scaring you off the road. It is about understanding what actually happens on and around Independence Day, so you can plan around it. In 2025, 15 August fell on a Friday, which made for a natural three-day weekend, and in many places Janmashtami followed close behind, stretching holiday travel even further.

The morning of the 15th in the big cities

Independence Day itself is a working ceremony for the country. The Prime Minister addresses the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi in the morning, and state capitals hold their own flag-hoisting ceremonies. Around these events, police usually impose traffic restrictions and diversions, and in Delhi there are typically restrictions on certain roads around central and old Delhi on the morning itself and during full-dress rehearsals in the days before.

What this means for you is simple. If you are starting your road trip from Delhi on the morning of 15 August, do not plan a route that passes close to the Red Fort area or central Delhi early in the day. Check the traffic advisory issued by the Delhi Traffic Police in the days before, which normally lists the affected roads and timings.

Other cities have similar arrangements around their main ceremony venues. A quick look at the local traffic police’s social media or website the day before will tell you what to avoid.

The real jam: leaving the city

The bigger problem is not the ceremony. It is everyone else. On the evening before a long weekend and the morning of the first holiday, outbound traffic from metros builds up fast. The worst bottlenecks are usually:

The first few toll plazas outside the city, where lanes narrow and queues form.
The city’s own exit corridors, which carry commuter traffic as well as holidaymakers.
Popular weekend routes towards hill stations and beaches, where the road narrows into ghats.

In our experience, the difference between leaving before dawn and leaving at nine in the morning can be several hours on the same route. If you can, leave very early, or leave the previous evening after the rush and stop for the night an hour or two outside the city.

Hill roads and holiday hotspots

On long weekends, popular destinations near big cities can fill to capacity. Hill stations within a day’s drive of Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru often see heavy congestion on their access roads, and parking in town centres can run out. Local authorities sometimes respond with traffic regulations, one-way systems or temporary restrictions on vehicle entry during peak periods.

In the monsoon, these same roads carry extra risk. Landslides can block ghat sections in the Himalayas and the Western Ghats, and the authorities may close roads at short notice. If you are heading into hills in August, keep an eye on weather warnings from the India Meteorological Department and on local news.

Toll plazas and FASTag

Since 2021, FASTag has been mandatory for most vehicles at national highway toll plazas. It speeds things up considerably, but plazas can still back up on holiday mornings. Make sure your FASTag is active, properly fixed to the windscreen, and has a healthy balance before you set off. A blacklisted or low-balance tag can lead to delays and penalty charges at the plaza. We cover this in more detail in our piece on fuel, FASTag and fog.

The way home is worse

If there is one rule we would repeat, it is this: the return journey on the last day of a long weekend is almost always harder than the outbound one. Everyone wants to get home by evening, so traffic peaks in the afternoon and early evening as people converge on the same entry points into the city.

You have a few options:

Leave very early on the last day. Breakfast on the road and home by lunch.
Stay an extra night. If you can take a day off, coming back on a working day is usually calmer.
Leave late. Some drivers wait until the evening rush has passed. This works, but only if you are comfortable driving at night and well rested.

Fuel, food and rest stops

On busy weekends, popular highway food stops get crowded and service slows. Carry some snacks and water so that you are not forced to stop when everyone else does. Fuel stations along major highways are generally plentiful, but on smaller roads, especially in hills, fill up when you can.

Most importantly, plan for rest. Long hours in slow traffic are tiring in a way that open road driving is not. Swap drivers if you can, and stop every two hours or so.

Safety on a holiday weekend

Holiday weekends bring more inexperienced drivers onto the highway, more overtaking, and sadly sometimes more drink-driving. Drive defensively. Keep your speed reasonable, especially at night, and be patient with traffic. Wear seat belts in every seat; the law in India requires rear-seat passengers to wear them too.

How to actually enjoy it

Strip away the traffic, and the Independence Day weekend is one of the loveliest times to be on the road in India. The monsoon has turned the countryside green, villages are decorated with flags, and children wave from school ceremonies along the highway. It is worth seeing.

The trick is simply to be a little contrarian. Leave earlier than you think you need to, come back later or earlier than everyone else, and pick destinations a little off the most obvious circuit. Do that, and the highway becomes part of the holiday rather than an obstacle to it.