Stalled at the ROUNDABOUT

Stalled at the ROUNDABOUT
R Krishna Kumar | TNN


It’s madness here during rush hour. The authorities wanted to weave magic with an underpass, but the plan has gone haywire and redefined chaos at the new rotary junction near Hotel Windsor Manor. The signal-less junction handles traffic from three major roads — Golf Course Road, Bellary Road and Kumara Krupa Road — but the load has become too much to handle for the traffic policemen stationed there.
The rotary concept, that leaves motorists with a greater responsibility to follow traffic rules, isn’t working well at this junction. ‘Yield’ signs have been put up here but when most motorists are in no mood to yield (or give way), the signs aren’t quite helping. The logjam triggered off by a magic box underpass plan is driving motorists round the bend.
The underpass plan, for the time being, has made way for the rotary junction that has eaten into a good chunk of road space and also left policemen with the tough ask of manning seamless traffic.
Misplaced magic?
The chaos at the junction also reflects the irony behind the magic box underpasses being constructed by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP): They don’t come with the approval of the BBMP’s own technical advisers. The apparent rift between the BBMP and the committee has led to a temporary hold-up of the underpass. As commuters grapple with the inadequacies of a temporary arrangement, the official word on the underpass row is still buried in conflicting statements.
Capt. Raja Rao, member of the BBMP’s technical advisory committee, told TOI that the committee was never consulted on the feasibility of any of the magic box underpasses. “Unfortunately, the underpasses never came to the advisory committee for its views. The odd member may have been consulted but there was no formal interaction with the committee,’’ Rao said.
According to sources, the committee is consulted only when the project involves a budget of Rs 2 crore or more. Though the magic box underpasses are being constructed on a budget of only about Rs 1 crore each, the collective idea of underpasses as a solution to traffic bottlenecks on the road to the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) comes at a much bigger price.
A senior BBMP official said the issue came up after “a member’’ of the advisory committee raised an objection to the plan saying the Windsor Manor Junction underpass, between the ones on Cunningham Road- Sankey Road Cross and BDA Junction, was not feasible. The official, however, said the underpass plan has not been shelved. “We have asked the member to give an alternative proposal to address the traffic issues at the junction. Till date, there has been no word from him,’’ he said.
Jammedjunction
BBMP advisory committee not consulted on magic boxes BBMP says waiting for alternative model from committee members Junction gets jammed during peak hours Purpose of signal-free rotary defeated by rushing motorists
Round the bend
Vehicles from Bellary Road have to go around the rotary, join the stream and head towards Kumara Krupa Road or return to Bellary Road. With traffic policemen holding back this section of traffic at the rotary to allow vehicles from Golf Course Road, the traffic gets piled up, blocking vehicles heading from the Bellary Road direction on to Golf Course Road. It’s not a smooth ride for motorists from Kumara Krupa Road either, as some of them turn right towards Golf Course Road and the rest take left towards Bellary Road. The resulting bottleneck is particularly taxing during the evening rush hour.