Endless queues since the afternoon and scenes of panic among those stuck in the tunnel.
It was a nightmare weekend for the many swimmers who flocked to the coastal beaches to escape the heat.
Long lines formed both along the coastal road in Via Leonardo da Vinci in Quartu, and on the other side on the new 554 and 125, with queues even in the tunnels and scenes of panic among those who had been inside the tunnels for long periods.
At 6 pm, it took almost an hour to reach Margine Rosso from Terra Mala, and things went even worse for those returning from Costa Rei at 8 pm, with queues already forming at the tunnels and over two hours to reach Quartu.
A hell that repeats itself every year, with drivers choosing alternative routes to avoid the traffic jams, only to end up even worse with the Terna construction site on Via Dell'Autonomia Regionale Sarda. The shortcuts on Niu Crobu and Via Biora are also crowded, unable to handle such heavy traffic.
"Coming back from Villasimius, we took the new road to avoid the coastal road, which is always chaotic, but instead it went from bad to worse," says Elena Zedda, returning from a Sunday at the beach. "There was a traffic jam in the tunnel," she adds, "and I even felt sick because I suffer from claustrophobia. We left at 8:00, but what's the point of leaving at 4:00 to avoid traffic when you're going to spend a day at the beach? It's incredible that in all these years they haven't found an alternative to this madness." And to think that the construction of the New 554 with its tunnels should have marked the end of summer traffic. Instead, it ended even worse.