Work on pedestrian subway on Raj Bhavan Road begins

Work on pedestrian subway on Raj Bhavan Road begins

Special Correspondent
Subways will connect four roads that merge at Basaveshwara Circle
— Photos: Sampath Kumar G.P. and K. Murali Kumar

PEDESTRIAN SAFETY: An earthmover (left) is removing earth on Raj Bhavan Road in Bangalore on Sunday and at right is the ‘magic box’ that will form part of the subway.
BANGALORE: In view of the expected increase in flow of traffic after the widening of the Palace Road and Race Course Road and the resultant inconvenience to pedestrians at the Basaveshwara Circle, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has embarked upon construction of pedestrian subways connecting the roads reaching this circle.

On Sunday, BBMP began work on an interconnecting pedestrian subway on Raj Bhavan Road even as utility agencies were completing shifting of utility lines. The subways will be built using the “magic boxes”, similar to that were placed to construct the Cauvery Junction underpass. The BBMP and traffic police diverted traffic on Raj Bhavan Road making the T. Chowdiah (Sankey) Road two-way till its junction with Palace Road on Sunday.

The subways will connect four roads — Palace Road, Race Course Road, Vidhana Soudha Road and Raj Bhavan Road — that merge at Basaveshwara Circle, and offer unhindered movement for pedestrians at the junction. While the Raj Bhavan Road subway will have a span of 11 metres, those at other roads will have a span of 13 metres.

Speaking to The Hindu, BBMP Chief Engineer (Major Roads), K.S. Krishna Reddy, said, “When all the subways are in place, the Basaveshwara Circle will be safe for the pedestrians as they need not cross these roads at the signals.”

Mr. Reddy said both the Palace Road and Race Course Road will continue to be bi-directional roads but will have six lanes after the road widening process.

The road widening process also results in a signal-free junction and hence there was need for subways for pedestrians. He said the signal-free traffic movement will ease traffic congestion right from Raj Bhavan Circle till the Ananda Rao Circle Flyover (near Janata Dal office) on Race Course Road and from Maharani College Circle to Vasanthnagar Railway under-bridge on Palace Road.

Decongestion
This scheme will decongest traffic around the Basasveshwara Circle — right from BRV Junction towards Race Course Road intersection and Shivananda Circle via Basaveshwara Circle. Vidhana Soudha Road from Basaveshwara Circle will become a “dead end” as this will be used by the people going to the Multi-Storey buildings and Legislator’s Home and Vikas Soudha only, Mr. Reddy said.

To some extent it will also ease traffic at Maharani’s Circle and K.R. Circle as many people going to Vidhana Soudha from Majestic via Seshadri Road will take the Race Course Road from Ananda Rao Circle Flyover. Approximately 25 square kilometres of area around Basaveshwara Circle will get decongested with this single road widening project, Mr. Reddy added.