Peak-hour gridlock leaves motorists exasperated

Peak-hour gridlock leaves motorists exasperated

Staff Reporter

VVIP visit and breakdown of vehicles at two roads cause traffic jam

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

TRAPPED: Traffic jam on Town Hall-Sirsi Circle flyover during peak hour on Wednesday morning in Bangalore.

BANGALORE: Although it was a perfectly normal weekday, Bangaloreans had to endure gridlocks on different arterial roads on Wednesday even during off-peak hours, putting road users under severe stress.

Those leaving for work early were delayed by VIP movement with BJP leader L.K. Advani using the Airport Road.

“It took me an hour to reach St. Mark’s Road from Old Madras Road, something that takes me just 20 minutes at 8.30 in the morning,” said Bhaskar R., an engineer.

Things did not get better after that. Two vehicles – a vegetable-laden tempo and a Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus – which broke down near the Fire Service central office and the Maharani’s College on Seshadri Road respectively in the afternoon, caused a bottleneck at the Ananda Rao Circle in the afternoon.

While there was no one to attend to the tempo, BMTC mechanics got the bus repaired after a while.

However, the gridlock persisted towards K.R. Circle and by evening, the pile up had reached the Kempe Gowda Bus Station too.

Traffic piling up on K.R. Circle and till Maharani’s Circle has been the order of the day on Seshadri Road as all vehicles bound to east and south Bangalore have to take this road.

The gridlock on Seshadri Road had a cascading effect on roads leading from here, including the Palace Road.

Even Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Veedhi in front of Vidhana Soudha was not free from this gridlock.

On Mysore Road, the traffic towards the city piled up till Hosaguddadahalli after a steel-laden truck got broken down on the Town Hall-Sirsi Circle flyover.

Despite a ban on the entry of heavy goods vehicles on Mysore Road between Kimco Junction and the K.R. Market during the day, traffic police have been allowing violation of this rule.

The Jayamahal Road witnessed huge traffic jam in the morning as supporters of Minister Goolihatti D. Shekar parked their vehicles in front of the Minister’s residence on this road.

Ongoing work at the Cantonment Railway underpass too contributed its part to the traffic jam, said Rangarajan, one of the road users affected by the jam.

Vehicles were seen moving at a snail’s pace on Mahakavi Kuvempu Road from Navarang Circle towards Malleswaram Circle in the afternoon.