Smooth ride still a far cry

Smooth ride still a far cry
C S Hemanth
It was a two-and-a-half hour drive that cab driver Ayaz Ahmed would never dare to tackle again. The aggravating bumper to bumper traffic, chaotic traffic route and constant clutching-braking would remain a nightmare forever.

But Ahmed and thousands of drivers like him, would have no choice but to endure this challenge every time they take that only existing road to the Bangalore International Airport in Devanahalli, scheduled to open on March 31.
Deccan Herald did a reality check to get a first hand experience of the journey from different locations in the city to the upcoming airport and two comments immediately made big sense: ' It is one hell'uva journey to get to the airport' and two, 'For heavens sake please do not shut down the existing HAL Airport'.

Back to Ayaz's two-and-a-half hour journey from Electronic City to the Devanahalli Airport. As the clock struck 9 in the morning, it was time to begin the trip. Little did the driver know what awaited him.

Devanahalli was 60 km away. As the cab chugged slowly approached the ever narrowing Electronic City-Silk Board junction, one could sense that it would take much longer to reach the destination than expected.

The bumper to bumper traffic only got worse. It became even bad when the vehicles had to pass along the under-construction elevated expressway

It was finally at 10.15 am that the cab hit the Silk Board Junction. From then on, the traffic was a bit smooth till the cab touched JC Road at 10.35 a.m., after a relatively quick passage through the Dairy Circle Flyover and Lalbagh.

It took another gruelling 35 minutes through Palace Road and High Grounds to reach Mekhri Circle. The time was 11.10 am., over two hours had passed and the highway journey to BIAL was only about to begin. Twentyfive more minutes on NH 7, and the cab finally reached its destination. Two and a half hours from finish to start. The clock showed 11.35 am.

Now, this was a test journey, a drive without luggages and the tensions of reaching the airport in time to catch a waiting flight. Spare a thought for passengers heading to board an international flight. It was clear that for him/her to report three hours before flight departure, the journey from the City had to begin at least five to six hours in advance. Packing would take more time.

Alighting at the state-of-the-art greenfield airport will no doubt be a pleasant experience for passengers. But once they hit the road to the City, the pleasantness is bound to disappear.

Deccan Herald checked out the trip back from BIAL to the City, and the madness was back in full force.. The cab headed towards Mysore Road. Although the highway route on NH-7 was not so tiresome, trouble began when it branched to the city roads. Congesed traffic junctions, choked roads were back, even though it was afternoon, well away from the peak hours.

The journey from the airport to Rajarajeshwari Nagar junction on Mysore Road took an hour and ten minutes with several stopovers due to traffic jams at Cauvery Theatre Junction, Basaveshwara Circle, Mysore Road Flyover and the entire stretch from Byatrayanpura up to Rajarajeshwari Nagar.