Brace for big road chaos

Brace for big road chaos

Aero show enthusiasts may find the drive hard due to road works

Rohith BR. Bangalore
A word of caution to enthusiasts planning to witness Aero Show 2009 scheduled to be held at Yalahanka air base from February 7. Better hop into a chopper to reach the venue.
Reason: Motorists are going to face numerous bottlenecks as men and machines are engaged in road widening and underpass works along the Bellary Road between Hebbal flyover and Ganganagar stretch. Pre-cast concrete slabs, and heaps of sand, bricks, boulders and other construction material lay along the road which could make the traffic crawl at various points on the Aero Show day.
The event is expected to draw nearly 600 armament companies from home and abroad besides thousands of enthusiasts.
The busy Bellary Road registers over 25,000 passenger car units (PCU) every day. With the aero show in place, the traffic men are expecting a minimum of 30 per cent increase in traffic flow along the stretch. While the show is open to businesspersons in the mornings, the general public is allowed in the evenings.
"This is when the Bellary Road will be put to test. The road width at CBI Junction and Sanjaynagar has narrowed down to half and there would be major traffic blocks in the evenings," said Sudhakar NM, a traffic expert.
"I remember my travel to the aero show held in 2007. It took over three hours for me to reach the destination after threading my way through the traffic blocks," said Vinay K, marketing manager working with TCS.
The engineers of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and traffic men are a worried lot.
"During the past seven days, work has slowed down as contractors were not getting ready mix concrete (RMC) to the project site due to the truckers' stir," said BBMP Chief Engineer (major roads) KS Krishna Reddy. Even if they resumed works in full pace, it would take a minimum of two months to complete the project, he said.
However, the traffic police said they would come up with a strategy to tackle the road chaos.