Wider road, bigger problems

Wider road, bigger problems
BY PUNEETHA KAPADI
BENGALURU


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I Lack of planning by BBMP causes traffic snarls, increases pedestrian woes I Even if roads are wider, traffic jams continue to haunt the city. BBMP is widening roads by cutting trees. Today, I saw workers cutting an old tree near Anand Rao Circle Yatish, student, Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College Tree-felling, purportedly for road widening, has become rampant in the city. Also, there is no proper bus stop, forcing commuters to run behind moving BMTC buses to catch them Padma P., pedestrian The bus shelter has been shifted to an adjacent place due to road widening, causing inconvenience to the public. Commuters are forced to wait for buses in scorching heat Krithika S., private company employee

Travelling on KG Road, which connects major roads in the city including the City Railway Station and bus stand, has become a difficult task. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has taken up road widening work without any plan to divert traffic. The result: Traffic congestion and in turn delays and road rage.
BMTC buses take more than half an hour to cross a stretch of two just km due to the heavy traffic.

With even footpaths being dug up, pedestrians have no place to walk. Students of a nearby polytechnic and other colleges are finding it difficult to walk to their institutions.

The road widening work is under progress for the last one week. The BBMP started the spadework for the project by breaking down the compound walls of public and private build ings, translocation of trees and shifting of utilities on KG Road.

The work has brought immense problems for thousands of motorists, pedestrians, educational institutions and nearby areas.

But BBMP officials maintained ignorance of these problems and instead spoke about their plans for the area.

A senior officer monitoring the work said BBMP plans to plant trees on Central College and Maharani College Campuses. He also said the road widening work has been taken up at a cost of Rs 3.4 crore.

Kavya, a student of SJP Polytechnic said: “In the Garden City, which once teemed with walkers who leisurely ambled down the wide pavements in the evenings, the simple act of crossing the road has turned into a dangerous exercise. The BBMP in its enthusiasm to provide motorists with hassle-free travel, has let down pedestrians. Flyovers, underpasses and oneways have pushed pedestrians of the roads.” “I am really worried about the rate at which they are chopping off trees for this road-widening menace. I understand that this becomes necessary as vehicles increase on the road, but as any road user in Bengaluru will confirm, 90 per cent of our traffic woes including congestion at intersections are because rules are flouted blatantly. No one wants to wait even for a couple of minutes for the next person. I cannot stop at a red light now because I am afraid of being hit by someone who wants to jump the signal. I don’t think widening roads will solve any problem unless people mend their ways,” said Namitha, another student.

Cubbon Park police inspector (Traffic) Dugagappa said only during peak hours traffic will be affected.