Hellish Roads 12: Old Madras Road

On the ‘old’ road to despair
OLD MADRAS ROAD-NGEF
Times of India

Old Madras Road is a National Highway sans the trucks, but traffic jams are a daily affair all the same. Two-wheelers, cars, tempos, autorickshaws, buses and pedestrians apart, road users have to put up with the shenanigans of bullock cart and push cart drivers.

1 Main junctions: Indiranagar Double Road, Indiranagar 100-Feet Road, 80-Feet Road, Suranjandas Road, NGEF, Beniganahalli.

2 Major problems: Autorickshaws, tempos parked haphazardly along the road, even in the vicinity of junctions.

• Large traffic volume makes for slow turns at junctions.
• No traffic signals in place at junctions. Traffic cops left to the unequal task during peak hours.
• Bad condition of road and poor street lighting lead to frequent accidents.
• Traffic is diverted from Airport Road at HAL head office junction (due to flyover construction) towards OM Road, thereby amplifying vehicle volume on the busy stretch.
• With frequent VIP movement on Airport Road, vehicles are diverted on to OM Road.
• Bottleneck at the K.R. Puram flyover ramp on O.M. Road.
• Poor regulation of traffic from major establishments - HAL, BEML, NGEF, Aeronautical Society, Bagamane Software Park, ITPL, besides several apartment complexes.

3 What the police say... Though the situation is bad now, it is expected to improve soon.
• Redesigning of junctions is being taken up.
• However, the road widening work has caused congestion; improvement once work is completed.