One-way rule may be reversed on major roads

One-way rule may be reversed on major roads
By R Venkatesh, DH News Service, Bangalore:
Reversing one-ways on Richmond Road, Residency Road and St Mark’s Road is sure to trigger a major traffic upheaval, as the direction of vehicular movement will have to be reversed on at least 37 other arterial roads.

The traffic police seem to be all set to do a Tughlaq in Bangalore. Under the ruse of decongesting the busy roads of the City’s Central Business District, the traffic police are contemplating reversing one-ways on Richmond Road, Residency Road and St Mark’s Road.

This is sure to trigger a major traffic upheaval, as the direction of vehicular movement will have to be reversed on at least 37 other arterial roads in the vicinity of these three major thoroughfares of central Bangalore. Bangaloreans might complain but the traffic police are likely to be armed with well-argued-out reasoning from traffic consultants.

Currently the traffic consultants hired by the Bangalore traffic police are studying the flow of traffic on these thoroughfares. A blueprint on the flow of traffic during peak hours on these main roads and the advantages of reversing the one-way rule on them is almost ready for submission.

One of the senior consultants involved in the study told Deccan Herald that the volume of the peak-hour traffic on these three roads is mind-boggling. As most of the vehicular traffic on these roads is headed towards Bangalore East and South-East, the consultants are of the opinion that there is a lot to gain from reversing the flow of traffic.

The traffic consultant admitted any reversal of traffic on these three roads would affect the traffic flow on the roads in the vicinity including Museum Road, Lavelle Road, Rest House Road, Convent Road and Magrath Road. So the consultants are working on minute-wise details — travel distance, load on each road etc before arriving at a final solution, but for now reversing the direction of the one-way traffic is the best solution.

He added: “One-way flow is not a permanent solution to the growing traffic menace. To put it in a nutshell, it will just shift the congestion from one junction to another. Elevated roads or widening roads are the most advisable of the solutions to the traffic woes.”

Any reversing of the current one-way traffic direction is going to stir up a hornet’s nest as it has only been nine months since the current one-way rule on these three main roads was imposed. It may be mentioned here that Sampige Road in Malleswaram went one-way in late 1970s. The decision was arrived at without any sage counsel from consultants. Till date, the rule is continuing and the system is working without any hiccups. After the consultancy syndrome stuck the traffic police, motorists are now having to contend with the one-way rule on 98 roads. And adding to their woes is the regular reversing of the traffic flow on these roads.