Traffic in Kazakhstan's capital ground to a near halt on Tuesday evening, with the 2GIS app recording a maximum congestion score of 10 points and traffic speeds dropping to their lowest levels. The news was reported by infohub.kz.
Word of the gridlock first appeared on the Telegram channel "Astana — What? Where? When?" According to eyewitnesses, the city's left bank is almost completely at a standstill, with jams gripping Turan, Syganak, Dostyk and Kunayev streets, as well as the areas around Khan Shatyr, Astana Opera, Baiterek, Asia Park and Keruen.
2GIS data confirms the scale of the problem: large numbers of streets are marked in red, indicating roads are at maximum capacity. Users of the service have been posting emotional comments. "Dzhigi, don't drive into the jams," "Anyone got chips or sunflower seeds?", "Roads are blocked," "Where are you going, hello?", "Accident," "This is a total mess," drivers wrote.
The news comes days after the State Security Service warned that temporary restrictions on vehicle movement would be introduced on certain sections of the capital's streets on October 5–6 because of a series of international political events being held in Astana.
Incidentally, President of Kazakhstan Qasym-Jomart Toqaev met Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said of Oman at the capital's airport on Tuesday evening.