Another wasteful flyover to take wing

This five-arm busy junction will soon see a flyover.
Times of India


The Bangalore City Corporation (BCC) in its efforts to decongest traffic has proposed yet another flyover now at Minerva Circle, one of the busiest junctions that connects the city and Bangalore South. Estimated at a total cost of Rs 14.41 crores, this project will involve two ramps, one on R V Road and the other on V V Puram Road (Sajjan Rao Circle Road) to merge over Minerva Circle and climb down on J C Road.

The BCC's Engineer-inchief, Rame Gowda said: "The Consulting Engineering Services (CES) conducted a feasibility report in February on behalf of the BCC and the report has laid emphasis on the need for a flyover here. We have floated a tender in this connection and once it is through, the BCC council and the state government would take a call on it. The timeframe for the completion of project is 12 months from the date of commencement".

He said this junction is one of the most crucial passages into the city for commuters residing in Jayanagar, Basavanagudi, Banashankari and J P Nagar areas. Traffic snarls are common here as the volume reaches around 16,242 PCU/hour during peak hours. Though J C Road was made one-way a couple of years ago things have not changed much. According to an origin and destination survey conducted by the CES, J C Road is the most commonly-used road.

The five-armed intersection has R V Road, Fort Road, V V Puram Road, Basappa Circle Road, and J C Road meeting at this junction. Being in the immediate vicinity of the city market, J C Road is one of the important commercial roads of Bangalore. Added to this is the fact that this is a connecting road which makes traffic dense. Sensing the traffic sensitivity of this road, the city traffic police had even thought of making it a 'zero tolerance road'.

The concept The major share of traffic flow during peak hours is along north-south which involves V V Puram Road and R V Road. The traffic flow at these hours is 5,348 PCU/hour, constituting 33 percent of the junction volume. So, the grade separation will be along this axis. "In all probability, we will go in for a three-lane unidirectional flyover along J C Road spanning over Minerva Circle and Bharath Junction with two-lane entry ramps on V V Puram and R V Road. The total length of the flyover would be 641 metres with a maximum width of 10 metres.

The estimated cost of construction is Rs 9.93 crores, miscellaneous costs including land acquisition is estimated at Rs 3.98 crores and the cost of shifting utility lines is estimated at Rs 49.6 lakhs. Rame Gowda added that after the completion of the flyover the annual savings on fuel is estimated to be Rs 4.58 crores in the first year.

On ensuring smooth traffic movement he said the construction of the flyover will be on for a year so the entire portion of the flyover would be barricaded and only 50 metres length near the junction will be kept open. Construction activity of the super structure at the obligatory span will be carried out during nights and a minimum clearance of five metres will be ensured.