Clockwise vehicular movement to ease congestion on Mysore Road
Nearly seven years after it was taken up, the road over the major drain of the Vrushabhavati Valley has been thrown open to traffic. This has helped ease congestion to some extent on Mysore Road that is witnessing a slew of infrastructure projects.
According to a senior official from the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the bridge can now be used by residents of Vijayanagar and RPC Layout to go directly to Mysore Road, near the Gali Anjaneya Temple. They had to earlier come to KIMCO Junction on Mysore Road via Deepanjali Nagar.
Though the civic body issued the work order in 2005, the work was taken up in 2006 at an estimated cost of Rs. 20.83 crore. The deadline for the project, which was entrusted to NPCC, was postponed several times, thereby escalating the project cost to Rs. 30 crore.
The bridge has been designed to have clockwise vehicular movement, thereby easing traffic on Mysore Road.
The official conceded that the bridge should have had one-in-10 slope (i.e., one foot slope for every 10 ft). This would have taken the bridge till the mosque on Mysore Road, opposite Gali Anjaneya Temple. “We were forced to alter the plans following resistance from the people,” the official said.
However, this created a bottleneck near the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation’s Satellite Bus Stand on Mysore Road.
The road between Gali Anjaneya Temple and the satellite bus stand is very narrow. Chaos and confusion was witnessed here minutes after traffic was allowed on the bridge.
The official said that there was a proposal to provide a down ramp to the bus stand. “We asked KSRTC to pay Rs. 10 crore for it. They refused and the proposal was dropped,” he added.
Another problem before the BBMP was the proposed flyover from NICE Road at this point till Sirsi Circle to be constructed by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise.
“The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with the State government. However, as that work has not been taken up, the BBMP could only take up road-level works,” the official said.
The official added that the BBMP had now proposed to take up the reconstruction of the old bridge near Gali Anjaneya Temple.
“Based on the recommendations of the Centre for Infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning, the bridge will be reconstructed, as the vents are small. We are proposing to construct a semi-circle arch bridge with pre-cast elements here,” he added.
Photo caption corrected for error.
Keywords: Gali Anjaneya road, Mysore road bridge, traffic management, BBMP
“We were forced to alter the plans following resistance from the people”
Unfortunate that after spending crores, the bridge is not completed properly. Why could the politicians not resolve the issues with the more progessive community leaders?
Sir
Only those who have used this route know the difficulties they faced. Thanks to authorities for this relief. The proposal of a down ramp to Bus Stand is a very practical proposal which will improve the business even for KSRTC. Being a business corporation they should understand this and make their contribution which is not much. Otherwise State authorities should restrict the use of new Road by KSRTC. Corporations should not be a parasites but hosts for society to function smoothly and effectively.
It`s fine. But it is so shocking that there is no lane marking,etc.... .
It will compromise safety. Substandard at its worst.
While one heaves a sigh of relief at the bridge becoming functional, the bottleneck at merging of Mysore Road should be quickly sorted out, as even before it became functioinal there was congestion at this point almost perennially. BBMP or the Traffic Police should consider suitable traffic regulatory arrangement at this point with a view to avoiding fatal accidents.
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