Here, residents have to literally fly over

Here, residents have to literally fly over
Deccan Herald

Is the BDA’s new flyover on Airport Road being built at the cost of the welfare of residents? According to some of the residents, the flyover has left them literally stranded inside their own homes......

Is the BDA’s new flyover on Airport Road being built at the cost of the welfare of residents? According to some of the residents, the flyover has left them literally stranded inside their own homes.

One to two foot-high box drains have been built along a 200-metre stretch at the 100 Feet Road end of the Koramangala-Indiranagar link flyover. The problem: no ramps have been provided for, making it impossible for residents to bring in or take out their vehicles.

Monday morning would only add to the blues. There are two software companies on this stretch — Think 3 and CKS Software — that cannot let the vehicles of its 200-odd employees into its basement parking lots. Even the gates of CKS Software cannot be opened, thanks to the step-like obstruction. In case of a power trip, residents fear dark nights, as the junction box is also stuck. Construction debris was found dumped inside these box drains, bringing with it the threat of flooding during a heavy downpour. “The engineers did not build ramps or create slopes in front of our gates. How are we to get our vehicles in? They built this overnight

“When we questioned them the next day, they advised us to build our ramps on the road itself. These are service roads connecting Domlur to Indiranagar with heavy traffic flow. How can we encroach on it,” asked Dr Thimmarayappa, a resident who was forced to park his Reva car on the road since Saturday. Sohail, another resident, said they have been trying, in vain, to contact the authorities concerned.

“Each one we approach is passing the buck. We have a list of numbers, but no one responds. There have been no site inspections,” he said. Residents also fear traffic jams outside their homes once a part of the Airport Road flyover gets inaugurated on July 15. The lack of traffic engineering is evident at the base of the to-be-inaugurated Koramangala-Indiranagar flyover. It has one carriage-way heading towards Indiranagar 100 Feet Road, while another carriage-way joins Domlur to Indiranagar 100 Feet Road. A few metres from the flyover site, the width of the road is reduced by half. “This point will become a traffic bottleneck. Traffic jams will be inevitable during peak hours after the flyover is opened. I doubt if we will have space to even take out our own vehicles,” says Dr Thimmarayappa.

BDA Commissioner Shankarlinge Gowda said he would look into the complaints. However, he refused to take any responsibility of a potential traffic congestion due to the sharp decrease in road width.

“We were told to make a flyover; we have made it as per the approved design. There is nothing we can do if there are traffic jams near the entry or exit points of the flyover,” he maintained. Mr Gowda said only the flyover link between Indiranagar and Koramangala would be opened to the public. “The loops will be inaugurated in the following months,” he added.