A deadlock resolved at Agara junction

A deadlock resolved at Agara junction
With traffic diversion finally in place, the three-flyover project at the Iblur junction gets a much-needed boost
MANASI PARESH KUMAR


It was the stumbling block that had been delaying BDA’s ambitious project of a trio of flyovers at the Agara-Iblur junction. But finally, after a lot of dilly-dallying over the problem, traffic diversion has been put in place at the junction, that will hopefully ensure that the project meets its deadline of March 2010. Currently, about 35 per cent of project has been completed.
The traffic police, the BDA and the Nagarajuna Construction Company Limited (NCC) that has been awarded the tender to build the project were in a bitter deadlock for a while now over the traffic diversion needed to keep the project going at a good pace. While the NCC blamed the traffic police for not putting a traffic diversion in place, the traffic police said that they had received no proposal from the BDA about the project and the alternative roads were yet to be strengthened to be able to handle the heavy traffic. “The contractor is not the man I need to speak to about traffic diversion. I need the BDA to get back to me about it and that has not happened,” said Additional Commissioner of Police Praveen Sood, Traffic and Security.
The project includes three flyovers — two of them at Agara and one at Iblur. The roads are expected not only to ease traffic at both junctions but also make the outer ring road signal free. Another important feature of the project is the dedicated bus lanes and grade level roads as well.
According to the Madivala traffic police, a total of 2,000 two-wheelers, 2,250 Light Motor Vehicles (LMV), 400 buses and 200 trucks pass through this stretch every hour. But to build the tech slab or the beams that connect the pillars, the NCC needs space without moving traffic being a part of it. A total of 60 pillars at Agara and 20 at Iblur have been planned. Of these, 36 at Agara and 10 Iblur have been completed. “We had hoped to start work simultaneously after we had completed about 20 pillars at Agara and six at Iblur. We had sent a letter to the traffic police about this, but nothing happened,” said Santhosh S, the project administrator of behalf of the NCC.
The project was lagging behind because of heavy traffic problems. “At one time, we had just finished five per cent of the work when about 15 per cent should have been completed, because the traffic would delay materials reaching the site,” said an assistant engineer from NCC who wished to remain anonymous.
However, the BDA denied any delay. Prem Kumar, assistant engineer working on the project, said “As of today, we are right on schedule and there is no delay in the project. Yes, the traffic did pose a problem, especially on Monday and Friday, and we worked in the nights on those days. The delay in the traffic diversion plan cannot really be blamed on anyone because there were various factors that contributed to it. So to say the BDA delayed it would not be right.”
NUTS AND BOLTS AGARA JUNCTION Number of flyovers - 2 Number of Bus Rapid Transit Systems (BRTS) - 1 Width - 3.5meters/5.5 meters Lenght - 900 meters Width of BRTS in between the two flyovers - 0.6 meters IBLUR JUNCTION
Number of flyovers- 1+1 grade level road
Number of Bus Rapid Transit Systems - 2
Width of the flyover - 11 meters
Width of the grade level road - 13 meters
Width of BRTS - 3.5 meters