Hyderabad: As the monsoon intensifies, more Hyderabad commuters are turning to Google Maps for quicker routes. However, police officials say the app is inadvertently contributing to traffic congestion by directing large volumes of vehicles onto the same “alternate roads" — the routes that were once smooth now end up jammed.Hyderabad traffic police acknowledged the issue and said the app’s inability to flag waterlogged areas is compounding the problem. Several inspectors have noticed that commuters from the city’s western regions are opting for narrow link roads to avoid main routes, leading to severe congestion. One such hotspot is the Srinagar Colony road, which gets overwhelmed when commuters heading to the Jubilee Hills checkpost or Yousufguda from Jubilee Hills Road No. 1 all take the same shortcut simultaneously.Banjara Hills traffic inspector B. Sai Prakash Goud told Deccan Chronicle, “This is commonly done by people familiar with the city’s layout. It works when the lane is purely residential, but becomes problematic in areas with commercial activity, adding to the traffic chaos.” Another concern raised by police was delayed location updates on the app. “We’ve noticed slow-moving traffic around Sagar Highway and the Vijayawada Highway. We suspect the issue may be caused by Maps updating locations with a five-minute delay,” said Rachakonda traffic DCP V. Sreenivasulu.However, city traffic DCP Rahul Hegde downplayed the concern, saying the app’s bigger drawback is its inability to detect waterlogging. “Waterlogging is nature-driven and maps cannot visually detect it. The app may just show slow traffic, but the real issue — knee-deep water — hits only when the commuter gets there,” he said.A user complaint to Google echoed the police observations. The complainant wrote, “Dear Google Maps Support Team, I would like to report an issue I recently experienced. While travelling, the app showed my selected route as clear (blue), but it was actually heavily congested. This caused major delays and inconvenience. Additionally, it failed to suggest faster alternate routes despite their availability. I hope this can be looked into to improve the experience.”