BBMP to study traffic flow at Tagore Circle

BBMP to study traffic flow at Tagore Circle



Faiza HaneefFirst Published : 07 Nov 2009 03:55:00 AM ISTLast Updated : 08 Nov 2009 08:18:33 AM IST
BANGALORE: Considering the increasing differences between BBMP and the police, and continued protests and criticism from people on the controversial Tagore Circle underpass work, BBMP has directed its technical advisory committee (TAC) to reconsider and redo a survey on traffic volume at the junction.
BBMP has directed TAC to carry out a fresh survey of the traffic flow at this junction and submit a report in a week’s time.
The Palike has already clarified that it started the work on the underpass based on a survey by the traffic police in 2006 that stressed the need for an underpass at the junction.
The civic body, however, decided to take a fresh look at the survey following the strong public backlash for the project.
“The matter is now with the TAC and the committee will study the traffic volume again and submit the report to the Palike in a week’s time,” said H Raja Simha, technical advisor to the BBMP Commissioner.
“There is pressure from the public to stop the work on the underpass, but before taking any decision, we decided to have a re-look through the TAC,” he added.
After the report is submitted to BBMP, the final decision on to continuing the work will be taken. However, the work on the underpass will not stop during the survey, said Simha.
As per the previous survey report submitted by the Police Commissioner to the Chief Secretary, Town Planning in 2006, an underpass at the junction was suggested because the traffic flow was more than the rate prescribed by the Indian Road Congress (IRC) and as per IRC, if the passenger car units (PCU) per hour is more than 10,000, an interchange is justified.
“The TAC members were here for a few hours three days ago and they have been said to take up the survey of the traffic,” said a senior BBMP engineer at the project site.
TAC : The technical advisory committee formed by the Palike a few years ago reviews and clears projects, apart from conducting site inspections.
The committee is also conducting surveys at junctions where underpasses that have been proposed under BBMP’s new infrastructure development project costing Rs 22,000 crore.
Few members of the committee include—Praveen Sood, additional commissioner (Traffic), Prof Justo, traffic expert, Dr BR Srinivas, retired professor,Indian Institute of Science, Nityananda, former secretary to the state government and AK Gopalswamy, BBMP Chief Engineer.
Protest against the underpass continues
The members of Save Bangalore Committee, eminent personalities and citizens organised a two-hour protest at the Tagore Circle juntion on Saturday, demanding an immediate stop to the ongoing work of grade-separator work on KR Road near the Tagore Circle.
Rajashekar, co-convenor, Save Bangalore Committee told Express, “BBMP started work on the underpass without even consulting residents and it has failed to consider their opinion. With the present traffic volume, all that the junction required was a signal and not an underpass.” “We could not meet the Commissioner Bharat Lal Meena but we did meet the special commissioner Maheshwar Rao and he has assured that they will discuss and meet us again on Monday for a final decision,” he added.
A boulder was found at the construction spot today and it will also cause delay in the completion of the work, similar to the way the work is delayed at the Kadirenahalli cross underpass work, Rajashekar added. TAC survey ‘traffic volume’ at Tagore circle again.
Five projects to make Outer Ring Road signal-free
Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) will undertake five new projects at the cost of Rs 189 crore in its efforts to make the Outer Ring Road signal-free.
The proposed projects include a flyover at Bhadrappa Extension junction at Rs 31 crore, construction of a new loop and improvement of the junction at KR Puram flyover at Rs 15 crore, a facility to enable the vehicles coming from Marathahalli to take a free left turn towards Bellary Road at Rs 36 crore, construction of a grade separator at the Outer Ring Road and Mysore Road junction in Nayandahalli at Rs 72 crore and construction of a flyover at Nagavara Junction estimated at Rs 35 crore. BDA has approved tenders for developmental works at Kadubeesanahally and Mahadevapura at the costs of Rs 39 crore and Rs 36 crore respectively.