Traffic still a bugbear for old Airport Road users

Traffic still a bugbear for old Airport Road users

Deepika Arwind

Bangalore: It seems that life on what is now known as old Airport Road has not changed much after the HAL Airport closure in terms of traffic and trade. Residents and shopkeepers have the same grievances as they did before Bangalore International Airport came up. Shitendra Bhattacharya, who stays in a bylane at the old Airport Road-Ring Road junction, says that even though he sees a considerable reduction in the volume of traffic at the junction, problems still remain the same.

“There is still traffic congestion, especially at peak hours. The issue of being able to manage traffic efficiently still remains,” says Mr. Bhattacharya. According to him, the fact that people think that there may be no traffic on the old Airport Road, just causes more people to use the road and add to the congestion.

Other residents are of the opinion that the shifting of the airport was only a fraction of the problem and that the main cause of congestion is the volume of traffic going towards International Technology Park in Whitefield and various other software offices in Marathahalli.

Ananth Krishnan, who lives at the old Airport Road-HAL junction, has mixed feelings. “That one junction has become much better. I save about 15 minutes every day. But nothing concrete has changed about the traffic near Manipal Hospital,” he says.

Life has not changed much for shopkeepers either. K. Murthy, owner of a tea and cigarette shop at the old Airport Road-HAL junction, says that in the frenzy between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., when HAL buses bring back children from school, the noise is unbearable.

Praveen Sood, Additional Commissioner of Police, Traffic and Security, confirms the fact that there has been barely any difference in the volume of traffic. “For the first 15 days after the closure of HAL Airport, the traffic was manageable. But once traffic reduces on one road, traffic from other roads is diverted to that road,” he says.