New decongestion plan to cut travel time to Majestic area

New decongestion plan to cut travel time to Majestic area

Directorate of urban land transport is going to reveal in a report the ideal locations to construct flyovers, pedestrian subways and skywalks to ease traffic and help commuters and pedestrians to reach the city's nerve centre faster, Bosky Khanna reports

Bosky Khanna



The directorate of urban land transport (DULT) is preparing a report to decongest Kempegowda bus stand, the city's central nerve point. If implemented, the plan would make Majestic area more accessible to commuters and pedestrians, sources said.
To achieve this, DULT officials have identified eight key circle screen points: Majestic Central area, Mysore Bank Circle, Natraj theatre, Okhalipuram, Magadi Main Road, Mysore Road, Briand Square, and Good Shed Road.
"We want to improve the geometry of these areas, ensure better traffic flow, improve short-term accessibility, and mobility to Majestic. Every day, over 30,000 people travel to Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) and the government is giving a lot of importance to improve connectivity to the airport but least importance is given to Majestic which is the core area," a DULT official said requesting anonymity.
The aim is to decongest traffic by identifying ideal locations to construct flyovers, pedestrian subways and skywalks. A request has been sent to agencies such as the city traffic police department, BMTC, KSRTC, Railways and Metro to send their inputs on the subject. Work on the DULT report has been going on for the last six months. Once completed, it will be presented to the government by year-end to show how travel time can be reduced by at least 10 minutes for commuters to Majestic.
The need to decongest Majestic area is all the more since underground work for the Metro on the 7.5-acre land in KSRTC bus stand is going to start soon.
In the meantime, experts said that instead of concentrating on Kempegowda bus stand, there is need to explore the possibility of making use of other areas as well for bus stations.
Speaking to DNA, CT Nayak, chief traffic warden and retired DCP traffic, said a permanent solution should be sought to ease traffic to Majestic.
The Kempegowda bus stand and KG Road up to the police quarters are jammed. All buses coming from Hudson Circle and KR Circle enter the bus stand directly from the heart of the city putting pressure on the main roads. To ease traffic here, a flyover from BMTC and KSRTC taluk office to police quarters should be constructed after Nrupathunga Road, Nayak said.
"The present road running opposite Mysore Bank Circle is wide enough. Thus, private vehicles can ply on this road and heavy duty vehicles can move on to the flyover. This will help buses on KG Road opposite Mysore Bank Circle run easily. This will also ease traffic movement in the surrounding areas," he said.
"It is important to decongest Sheshadri road and the Rajajinagar corridor up to Khoday junction. Both are blocked during peak hours. A proposal to construct a railway bridge at Khoday junction is pending with the government for long," he said.
There are two ways to decongest traffic: Construct flyovers or railway bridges. These proposals are pending with the government, but neither the BBMP nor the railway officials are taking interest. Another possible solution is to lessen the burden at Majestic by shifting some bus terminals to places on Mysore Road, Old Madras Road, Shantinagar and Tumkur Road.
Over the last three years, there has been a three-fold increase in BMTC and KSRTC bus traffic. To decongest traffic, BMTC is planning to construct a multi-storey facility for its vehicles. Thus, there is growing need to decentralise the movement of private vehicles, Nayak said.
Traffic expert MN Sreehari said that an integrated system would soon be coming up in the area to ease vehicular movement. He pointed out that once the Metro comes up, congestion will come down due to its alignment.
KSRTC bus stop is getting shifted to a different terminal and this will reduce the movement of outbound vehicles. DULT should further formulate measures to remove hawkers which will reduce the number of people in the bus stand, he said.
"Encroachment is an important issue which needs to be solved immediately. Better facilities for pedestrians should be created as they are finding it difficult in the absence of footpaths. This is the joint responsibility of the BBMP and the transport department," he said.