Never ending nightmare on Bannerghatta Road

Never ending nightmare on Bannerghatta Road
Vijay Times

IT looks like there’s no end to traffic problems on the four-km stretch of Bannerghatta Road which has attained notoriety as a ’road to hell’. Despite the recent patch work to better the condition of the battered Bannerghatta Road, there is no respite for motorists from regular traffic jams. Thanks to the infrastructure conscious techies who have found an ingenious way or a ’short cut’ to reach their work place in a hurry , even if that means breaking the infrastructure and violating traffic rules.

In order to avoid a circuitous road to reach their destination, the median constructed in the entire stretch of four-km to prevent any cross o ver to either side of the road is cut open at the J D Mara J unction. This makes way to a pathway enabling easy access to the other side of the road by motorists. In addition, the board indicating ’no right turn - 24 hours’ stands as a mute spectator as these educated and enlightened lot follo w a deviation to reach office on time. This has further compounded the traffic congestion on this roadAnother point which adds to the traffic woes is the newly -constructed median in between the Ranka and Pride Apartments which has given way to the fancies of people who want to cross or take a U-turn at whichever place they wish.

The residents of Ranka Colony , who were in the forefront to blame the civic authorities when their colony was flooded during the heavy rains recently , have no qualms using the short cut themselves by thro wing away traffic rules and norms. The median installed by Mantri Developers under the public-private partnership in road construction here has also been rendered useless. "When people have no hesitation to follo w rules or safeguard the existing infrastructure, they cannot justify crying at the top of their voice complaining about traffic jams and congestion," says N eetu Alok K umar , who has been a regular user of this road.

When the issue was brought to the notice of ACP (South) Raveendra Prasad, he said, "T raffic has been diverted due to construction of a bridge in the adjacent area". But he was at loss of words to justify the board.