Hellish Roads 5: Koramangala-Hosur Road

Traffic piles up on Hosur Road near the Madivala junction.

KORAMANGALA-HOSUR ROAD
VEHICLES OCCUPY EVERY INCH OF SPACE
Times of India

Once a quiet residential area, Koramangala is today abuzz with commercial activity. A large concentration of IT offices and restaurants in and around Koramangala-Hosur Road region draws hundreds of people every day. But chaos reigns in the area with the pathetic condition of roads and dismal traffic regulation.

Despite diversion of trucks and buses on the Hosur Road (from St John’s Hospital junction to the flyover), the burgeoning traffic has put authorities in a fix. They say there is little scope for expansion of existing roads. At the same time, they say, they draw flak from public while attempting to shift bus stands to facilitate smooth flow of traffic.

1 • Major Lack of problems traffic signals at junctions including St John’s Hospital junction.
•Vegetable market chokes the road linking Sarjapur Road and Hosur Road behind Madivala police station. Proposal to shift the market is still pending.
•Perennial traffic jams on Sarjapur Road, Hosur Road (up to flyover).
•Bylanes in residential areas crammed with vehicles.
•Commercial complexes housing offices and restaurants lack adequate parking facilities. Vehicles are parked haphazardly on the narrow streets as well as main roads in residential areas.
•Trucks and buses coming to RTO at BDA Complex further congest roads.
•Improper location of bus stands.

2 What are ’s the bottlenecks junction ?
St. John's Hospital(after check-post on Hosur Road), 80 Feet Road- Hosur Road junction (Ayyappa temple), Hanuman temple junction (opposite BCC Complex), Madivala police station junction, Airport-Koramangala Ring Road-80 Feet Peripheral Road junction, BDA Complex junction.

3 Only plans, no implementation
Bangalore city traffic police have come up with a traffic management and action plan for Koramangala. The detailed plan deals with widening of roads, improving road conditions, removal of some trees and electric poles and better infrastructure like central median and footpath railings. However, the authorities are yet to act.

4 Some More plans

signals ... at some busy junctions.
•Relocation of some bus stops.
•Widening a stretch of Hosur Road.
•Further diversion of heavy traffic vehicles onto outer ring road.
•One-way near Krupanidhi College, to Hosur Road.

5 Police .. claim . situation is better

•After trucks were banned and buses diverted from Hosur Road stretch between St John’s Hospital junction and Madivala police station, flow of traffic is better.
•The road narrows towards Madivala police station, causing a bottleneck.
•More traffic signals at some junctions will improve the situation. Shifting of the vegetable market should be taken up by the BCC. - DCP Traffic (East) M.A. Saleem.

EXPERT OPINION

B.H. Sanjeev Kumar, traffic consultant, BATF
• Land use has changed. Basically residential layouts over a period of time have been commercialised.
•Comprehensive approach with professional and scientific measures is the need of the hour.
•Various aspects of road use, including movement of pedestrians, buses should be looked into.
•There is a need to look at the entire area and network of roads, and not introducing one-ways haphazardly as a short-term measure. Roads should be utilised accordingly.
•Though BCC has widened a stretch of Hosur Road, it is not sufficient to accommodate heavy flow of traffic.