Parking Chakkar 9: Ulsoor Road

PARKING WOES -9 ULSOOR
No parking in front of gates here please!
Times of India

Bangalore: ‘Do not park in front of gate’ screams a board put outside almost every house on the crossroads of Cambridge Layout. Come Thursday and the residents go through a harrowing experience as devotees thronging a temple on Sri Sai Mandir Road first make a rush for parking space.

With parking prohibited on the major stretch of the main road which is oneway, vehicles in hundreds spill over onto the crossroads in Cambridge Layout and Someshwar Layout.

1 The scenario:
There are also several educational institutions, shopping complexes, vegetable and flower markets, apartments and offices located in the area which include Bazaar Street, Ulsoor, Cambridge Layout, HAL II Stage, Sri Sai Mandir Road and J.B. Nagar.

Once a quiet residential area, the HAL II Stage now has several offices, mostly around the VII Main. Vehicles are crammed into narrow by-lanes and are also parked haphazardly.

With only a few stretches for parking on Cambridge Road, motorists are forced to park in the already crammed crossroads. On the Bazaar Street, where there is a huge volume of traffic plying, the pavements are encroached by hawkers and even vehicles. The two-wheeler parking space is overcrowded and leads to clogging on the road which is already narrow.

However, with one-ways, there is some respite from the earlier traffic jams that were perennial. While parking is allowed on one side of the road, traffic moves relatively smoothly on the roads.

2 Main problems:
Parking has been prohibited on most stretches of the main roads in the area. With haphazard parking, specially on Sai Mandir Road and Cambridge Road, traffic gets clogged.
Shopping complexes, restaurants, offices located in the area do not have adequate parking space.
Lack of strict enforcement has led to haphazard parking on many roads.
The huge volume of traffic plying on Bazaar Street (because of the one-way from Trinity Circle) gets clogged. Police have not checked encroachment of pavements and haphazard parking.

3 What police say:
On Thursdays, additional personnel are deployed around Sai Mandir Road to manage the huge volume of traffic. The situation has improved drastically after the road was made one-way. However, there is a lack of parking space to accommodate the massive volume of vehicles. Parking has been allowed on many stretches of Cambridge Road, including the stretch near Frank Anthony Public School and ESI Hospital.
Enforcement is also taken up strictly on Bazaar Street. Complexes can be built to keep a check on the increasing problems of parking. - DCP Traffic (East) M.A. Saleem.

EXPERT OPINION
C.S. Vishwanatha,
Chief of Torsteel Foundation Research in India.

• Multi-storied parking with an area with 25 meters diameter can be used in any available space.
• Depending on the area, the car park can have four to five floors below and above the ground. 10 to 12 cars can be accommodated on each floor.
• Strict enforcement should be taken up to check ‘no parking’ violation.
• The authorities concerned should wake up and take stock of the situation which is getting worse.