There is balm for Sampige Rd woes

There is balm for Sampige Rd woes

Traffic advisor and consultant to state govt has a 14-point proposal that awaits Chief Minister's nod

Bosky Khanna. Bangalore



There is some hope for Sampige Road, the lifeline of Malleswaram and areas beyond in the western parts of the city, that chokes with bumper-to-bumper crawl of motor vehicles round the clock.
A traffic expert has come up with a 14-point proposal to remove all the bottlenecks on the road and ensure a smooth flow of traffic. Traffic advisor and consultant to the state government, MN Sreehari, has forwarded his report, titled Traffic Related Issues and Intervention, to the chief minister for approval.
The proposal has been provided after taking inputs from the traffic police, Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited and other related agencies.
Sampige Road has been choc-a-bloc with motor vehicles, necessitating one-way flow of traffic decades back. After Mantri Mall, Asia's biggest mall, came up on the road recently, the situation aggravated and the spinoffs began to be felt in all roads leading to the area.
Sreehari told DNA that the proposed changes include shifting of the Rajiv Gandhi bus stand, creating a pedestrian subway, construction of a subway and creating a new alignment with four-lane traffic.
Work on the four-lane traffic will start soon and the new alignment will pass behind the mall and the Swastik Metro station. This road will cater to all vehicles headed to the mall as well as those heading to and from the metro station. Sreehari said that this would be a permanent solution to the current problem of unending traffic snarls.
He also pointed out that once the six multiplexes at the mall open, the theatres in the neighbourhood might serve little purpose. It might be possible to demolish the theatres and use the land to construct a multi-level parking lot, he added.
Sreehari said that landscaping with provisions for rock garden and water cascading at the Rajeev Gandhi statue would not only enhance the aesthetics of the area but also resolve the existing unwieldy geometry of the intersection.
But the biggest hope for Sampige Road lies with the Namma Metro. According to studies conducted by Rites and BMRCL, once the metro rolls on, over 30% of the road traffic would be reduced.