Messy median

Messy median
BBMP seems to be unconcerned over the shoddy state of the median on the Ring Road passing through BTM Layout
MANASI PARESH KUMAR


As the connecting road to Silk Board Junction, the Ring Road that goes through BTM Layout is among the city’s major traffic arteries. Thinking about the sheer volume of vehicles that travel on this road can give traffic nightmares. Obviously, one would expect the authorities concerned to keep the road in mint condition. But if the state of the median that divides this 80 feet road is anything to go by, the BBMP and the traffic police need to wake up and fast.
Just as one gets off the Jayadeva Hospital flyover and heads towards the BTM Water Tank, they are greeted by a shoddy median. Though the BBMP has been installing concrete medians all across the city it seems to have missed the Ring Road here. Huge square stones that jut out into the road have been piled on haphazardly to stop U-turns. With the road not facilitating the movement of traffic coming from arterial roads for close to 750 metres, drivers go over these stones to get on the other side of the road.
Zamir Khan, a techie who plies on this road everyday, explains the problem: “About seven months ago the BBMP filled gaps in the median with stones. Many two-wheeler drivers go over these stones to get from one side of the road to the other. It is not only dangerous for these drivers but also for the bystanders. Recently there was an accident when somebody tried to go over the median.”
Traffic cops point fingers at the BBMP. Officials in the Mico Layout traffic police station say they have already spoken to the BBMP about the median problem but there has been no response. “Since the median came up last eight months ago, we have been trying to get the BBMP to get it repaired and they keep promising to do it. About a month ago they asphalted one side of the road and promised to work on the median then. But nothing has happened,” says a police official, who does not wish to be named.
But the traffic police are not entirely guilt-free. They reportedly turn a blind eye to illegal parking on the road. Till the BBMP and Mico Layout police get their act together, seems like commuters will have to risk their lives on this road.