Major delays on westbound Interstate 10 Monday as festivalgoers depart

The annual tradition that is post music festival traffic seemed to be rearing its ugly head on the western side of the Coachella Valley, leading to backups on Interstate 10 and even sending a flood of cars onto other thoroughfares and even some normally quieter streets.

A major traffic backup on westbound Interstate 10 stretching from around the Date Palm Drive exits in the west to as far as Hargrave Street in Banning was shown at around 1:45 p.m. by the traffic monitoring service SigAlert. The service was also reporting average westbound speeds of only about 7 to 11 mph in the west Coachella Valley, although speeds in the 15 to 25 mph range were being reported on San Gorgonio Pass.

Desert Sun reporters also reported that traffic was “stop and go” on Highway 111 from about Vista Chino to Interstate 10 and that a large line of cars had backed up on San Rafael Drive near Highway 111 in Palm Springs.

The first weekend of the 2025 Coachella Music and Arts Festival ended late Sunday night and the campgrounds closed Monday morning, putting thousands of people back on the roads to take them home with much of that traffic coming from the population centers to the valley’s west. A new round of festgoers will arrive this week ahead of the start of weekend 2 on Friday.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Major delays on I-10 in the Palm Springs area Monday