Jammed Junctions: Cunningham Road

Jammed Junction
Model corridor becomes pedestrians’ nightmare
Deccan Herald

Cunningham Road, a corridor for traffic going to Benson Town, R T Nagar, Nandidurg Road and Jayamahal is bursting at its seams. The road, once designated as the model corridor of India’s Silicon City has fallen victim to “mindless” traffic and innumerable potholes. The pedestrian is the biggest casualty. There are no regulated pedestrian crossings and the flow of traffic is constant.

The traffic flow has become a nuisance especially for patients who find it impossible to cross the road to get into Workhardt Hospital. “It had become so difficult for our patients to cross the road that we had to appeal to the traffic authorities to either have a regulated pedestrian crossing in front of the hospital or ban heavy traffic on the road,” says Vice President (Operations) Wockhardt Hospital Vishal Bali. Following the complaint, DCP Traffic (East) M A Salim posted a traffic constable in front of the heart institute. And now there are plans to install a pedestrian controlled signal light (Pelican signal) there. “Anyone wanting to cross the road can switch on the signal. It will be on for 20 seconds. One Pelican signal costs Rs 1,76,000. We are looking for a sponsor,” says Mr Salim. Besides patients, the residents of the road complain that they have to escort their school going children to cross the road.

Cunningham Road also links Raj Bhavan Road from the Golf Link to the Balekundri Circle. It was first made one way allowing traffic from Mount Carmel College Circle to Balekundri Circle. The traffic flow was recently reversed, especially to ease off the bottleneck at Cantonment Station bridge. It now has traffic coming from three sides: Shivajinagar, Cubbon Road and Queen’s Road. “Between Queen’s Road and Cunningham Road there is a load of 6,000 to 7,000 passenger car unit per hour,” says the DCP.

Residents and people who have shops and offices on the road have to take a long circuitous route to reach their place. For instance, for residents living on Edward Road, a road parallel to Cunningham Road, have to drive through the road via Cunningham Crescent Road, pass through the Badminton Association and then come on to the Queens Road, which is always chock-a-block.

The road now has a mall coming right in the centre of the road, next to Wockhardt. People complain that there is no place to walk. The pavements on the road are fast disappearing and there are innumerable potholes on the entire stretch. But amidst complaints there are people who are happy with the reversal of traffic. “Our business has improved since they reversed the flow of traffic,” says owner Infinitea Gaurav Saria. “There are no traffic snarls any more,” says proprietor Feroze Estates Feroze Abdullah.

POSSIBLE CURE
Allow traffic at different stretches
Divert traffic to other arterial lanes
Stop heavy vehicles on the road
Reconstruct the road and pavements
Have regulated pedestrian crossing


USERS SPEAK
Vishal Bali, Vice President (Operations) Wockhardt Hospital: The road has become very chaotic. It is very narrow and cannot take so much of vehicular load. Moreover, there are no pedestrian crossings. This has greatly inconvenienced our patients. There are many corporate offices and there is a lot of traffic on the road.
S Chandrashekhar, President, GMCI: While one way system is necessary and is welcome, the flow of traffic should benefit a larger section of the population. The present one way leads to continuous high speed avalanche of traffic on the road. Traffic authorities should urgently review the situation.

Priya Chetty Rajagopal, General Manager, DBS Corporate Service: The reversal of traffic has smoothened the flow.

There are no longer any bottlenecks on the Balekundri junction as well. But the condition of the road is pathetic. It is potholed and now there are no pavements!
Vijjay Nair, theatre personality: There’s never a free time on the road. The traffic is constant and there’s high risk in crossing it.

Parents have to escort even their grown up children to cross the road. There are so many potholes that it’s no longer safe to drive on the stretch. Drainage is also a big problem.

Shreen Malani, Owner, Renaissance Art Gallerie: One way is not a good idea at all. There is constant chaos on the road. They should at least stop heavy vehicles from entering the road.