It’s a wretched ride on roads away from IT zone

It’s a wretched ride on roads away from IT zone
Deccan Herald

The Benniganahalli under bridge pass is causing a bottleneck for vehicles plying on Old Madras Road.

In uptown Bangalore, infrastructure issues may still be pegged solely to badly jammed roads in IT corridors, but on many roads outside the City’s IT scape, life is still a long, wretched ride.

Old Madras Road, which links Bangalore to hundreds of major industrial units in NGEF, Doddanekundi, Whitefield and Budhigere areas, is fast succumbing to the mounting traffic. A drive down the road till K R Puram on an afternoon returned images of a distinctly uncool Bangalore, and its pothole-ridden, slush-smeared other face.

Traffic maze

The crawl starts after Fusco’s School, from the signal routing traffic to C V Raman Nagar. At 3.45 pm, what you see ahead is a maze of buses and cars swirling and crawling in, like pieces completing a big picture of chaos. Motorbikes and scooters fill in the gaps. The road is a battered stretch of worn tar, but the motorists don’t seem to mind. A big chunk of the traffic moves on stretches on both sides of the road. The smart ones take detours through wayside petrol bunks to join the rush, two or three cars ahead. Still, there’s no room for all.

Further down the stretch, tar surfaces on the left, but there’s not much respite as motorists do a free-for-all on the road which looks in dire need of a median.

Adding to the rush are trucks parked on both sides. Negotiating road rage, potholes and a dog carcass, the traffic hits the Benniganahalli under bridge pass, which is locked by a surge of traffic. Trucks headed for Chennai and cars, buses and bikes towards Whitefield, NGEF and Doddanekundi industrial areas jostle for space in the narrow pass, as the sound of motor horns rise to a collective drone.

After the underpass, the road gets wider and the traffic spreads out. After an easy stretch on the cable stayed bridge, the drive gets slow again in a four-lane traffic. Many cars and bikes tail buses for cover, as traffic zips past on the opposite lanes.

Ordeal at K R Puram

After passing Army Institute of Fashion and Design and ITI on the right, K R Puram welcomes you with its truncated roads, water puddles and post-rain slush.

The ordeal hasn’t ended for many motorists, as they take diversions to join other traffic mazes — headed for Avanahalli, Virgonagar, Budhigere and beyond.

Comments

Mr S Krishnan, Director, Deccan Engineering; GBIA President: From NGEF to Benniganahalli, roads are being converted to six-lanes, but unless the Benniganahalli under bridge is widened, such measures won’t help. The under bridge is a serious traffic bottleneck.

Mr P C P Haran, Dy GM, Industrial Relations, Legal and Public Relations, Saint-Gobain; Secretary, GBIA: Lorries carrying sand and brick are parked indiscriminately near the under bridge, adding to the congestion. If this is not checked right now, it will become a default parking lot for them. As such, they are congesting the area during peak traffic hours, especially affecting the movement of school buses.

Mr V R Kalki Krishna, MD, Industrial Punches Rabourdin: Bus stops near the under bridge were supposed to have been taken away to remove the congestion, but nothing on that promise has happened so far.

FINDING SOLUTIONs

The Greater Bangalore Industries Association (GBIA), through deliberations and representations, has tried to get the authorities to look at the traffic problems of Old Madras Road, particularly the Benniganahalli bottleneck. Some of its 200-odd members are disgruntled at their being treated by the government as the poor country cousins of IT merchants. They also seem to have lost count of the promises of better infrastructure.