FREEWAY CHAOS

FREEWAY CHAOS
Bommanahalli, for the Hosur Road regular, could mean anything between traffic jams and bad traffic jams.

Home to many IT and BPO companies and a few educational institutions, the area has seen a tremendous rise in traffic movement and commercial activity - ever since the Electronic City took shape, around 10 km from the Silk Board Junction in Madiwala.

Right down at the Silk Board Flyover, this is one traffic choke point that never seems to ease out. While morning rush hours have virtually made the Bommanahalli stretch a bumper-to-bumper vehicle queue, the situation has worsened over the past couple of years. This time, ironically, due to a project that’s tipped to ease commuters’ woes.

Work on the elevated expressway from the Silk Board Junction to Electronic City is in progress, leaving some parts of the Bommanahalli neighbourhood crammed for road space. Though commuters are taking the congestion in their stride — looking at the long-term advantage of having a high-speed elevated road — traffic snarls have started moving to another level, especially during the morning and evening peak hours.

“The number of vehicles is increasing and you can feel it... it’s scary thinking about the road after a couple of years. Even the service roads are blocked, with many small trucks and vans parked on the sides,” says Jayadrith, who takes the road daily, from his Madiwala home to Garve Bhavi Palya office.

The post-evening hours don’t offer much respite either. After the private bus operators commence their night services from nearby Madiwala, the road is back to the bustle mode, with buses plying, cars zipping past and motorbikes filling in the spaces. “The rains just add to the chaos on the road... it becomes a virtual blind race at times,” says Somarajan, a resident of Kudlu.