Elevated road eases traffic congestion

BANGALORE - 11.12.2010 : The much-awaited 4.5-km stretch of elevated highway between Nelamangala and Yeshwanthpur (CMTI) junction on Tumkur Road, National Highway-4 (NH-4), thrown open to vehicular traffic finally, after being ready for nearly 3 months, in Bangalore on 11 December, 2010, reducing to a mere 10 minutes travel time between Nelamangala and Yeshwantpur that used to take more than an hour. Elevated expressway part of the access-controlled corridor built at the cost of Rs 720-crore, with stretch of 19.5 km, combining the newly-constructed expressway and access-controlled road, will benefit an estimated 1.2 lakh commuters heading towards West, North Karnataka and further to Pune and Mumbai and other parts of North India every day. This six-lane axis control toll road leading to Nelamangala from central and Eastern part of the city, will provide commuters seamless connectivity along a four-lane main carriageway, three-lane service road and four-lane elevated expressway. NHAI officials will prohibit two-wheeler, Autorickshaw on this stretch, once toll collection starts. The stretch below the elevated road will continue to be toll free as it comes under the City limits, but motorists have to pay the toll on the main road beyond the City limits. However, those coming to the City will have to bear the brunt of traffic flow at snail’s pace for some more time as the ongoing work on Metro rail project has caused bottlenecks at Goraguntepalya (ORR) Junction, which is also a point of convergence into a single stretch. Photo K. Murali Kumar.

The 4.5-km elevated road opened for traffic between Goraguntepalya and Chikkabidarakallu on the busy National Highway 4 (Tumkur Road) appears to have eased the woes of the motorists using this stretch of the road.

Not only has the bustling traffic on the ground below receded, the journey hours between CMTI Junction (after Goraguntepalya) and Nelamangala has come down for the motorists after the elevated road was thrown open for traffic last month.

“It used to take about one hour to reach Nelamangala before the road widening and elevated road work were taken up. Now I can reach Nelamangala within 30 minutes,” said Ram Prakash, a resident of Rajajinagar, who regularly travels by his car on this stretch.

The elevated road has come as a boon for truckers and long distance buses too. “After crossing Goraguntepalya, I can reach Nelamangala within 35 to 45 minutes thanks to the elevated road,” said M. Prakash, a tourist bus driver. He added that he used to take at least one-and-a-half hour before the construction work started for the same distance.

Below the elevated road, traffic volumes on the surface road have come down perceptibly, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic and Security) Praveen Sood said.

Mr. Sood told

The Hindu that the reduction in traffic volume was so much that the traffic police were able to reduce the timing cycle at four signals on this stretch. “Earlier, the timing cycle was kept at 200 seconds at SRS Junction, Peenya Junction, Jalahalli Circle and Hessarghatta Cross. The timing cycle has now been brought down to 150 seconds,” he noted.

He said that over 70,000 vehicles make use of the elevated road every day. Of these about 50 per cent are heavy and medium vehicles, comprising trucks, long distance buses and other goods vehicles which do not intend to ply through Jalahalli Circle. Even motorcycles are allowed on this stretch, he added. While the elevated highway on Hosur Road caters to light motor vehicles, the Tumkur Road elevated road will cater to heavy vehicles, by the sheer nature of areas surrounding these roads, Mr. Sood said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic – West) Panduranga H. Rane said that his personnel are a relieved lot after the commissioning of the elevated road. Let alone piling up of traffic, even scenes of dense vehicular movement on the road below has become rare, he noted.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) took up this project on public-private partnership. The work was executed by Navayuga Construction Company on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis. On an average, the stretch witnessed movement of about 1.3 lakh vehicles daily.