I had blogged very briefly about the traffic situation in Bangalore before. It is really getting worse. My friend was returning from office the other day and it took 75 minutes to cross a 7 km stretch of road!!! It takes me longer to come home from office. I take the bus and it takes 50 minutes, up from 40 previously, for just 15 km! Plus as a bonus there are many new really huge potholes on the road to keep you awake the entire journey.
Well you have to ask what is the Government doing to remedy the situation. They got to do something! Looks like they are doing something. With the 7 km stretch I mentioned earlier they are going to remedy it with a 9 km elevated highway along with a 15 km highway at ground level. This will be a 14 lane highway if you count the service lanes too (14 lanes sounds better that 6 ground level + 4 elevated lanes + 4 service lanes 
). This will reduce the travel time between Silk Board Junction to Electronics City from 90 minutes currently(!) to 6 minutes! There is also plans to construct similar elevated highways to Whitefield (where my office is) and Hebbal.
For the other parts of the city there is going to be an expressway in the city. Strange as it may sound the Core Ring Road pictured above will be a no-stoppage zone, with no U-turns or right turns. Change of direction and right turns will be accomplished with new steel grade separators designed by IISc. This is Rs. 200 Crore, 3 year, 30 km road project will connect Yeshwantpur, Rajajinagar, Sirsi Circle, Chamarajpet, Lalbagh, Dairy Circle, Adugodi, Vellara junction, Trinity Circle, Naga theater, Benson Town, Jayamahal Road, Sadashivnagar and Mathikere Road.
Then there is the 109-km Peripheral Ring Road. This is a Rs 1,190-odd crores ring road circling the Outer Ring Road. The 8-lane road will be on par with IRC standards with 1.5 mere central median and two meter earthen shoulders on either side with truck terminals at every 10 km totaling 100 meters width. This will run along the periphery of the city. The outer ring road was built with the same idea in 1994. Now the city has overgrown beyond the outer ring road. Hopefully the same does not happen to this.
All this sound great but it up to the Government to make this a reality. A simple flyover over the airport road started in February 2003 is still not complete. It was supposed to be complete by April 2004. The new deadline is August 2006!!! Hope they are more serious about these plans. As it is a lot of companies may move out of the city before these plans are implemented. One can only hope…
Related posts:
- Bangalore Traffic: The Human Touch
- 10 Point Program for Improvement of Bangalore City Traffic
- Bangalore traffic jokes
- October rain: More on Bangalore traffic
- Bangalore electricity sucks!
anon
October 21, 2005 at 10:52 PM
The government will do nothing other than dangle some carrots. Every Indian city is doomed….
Pranay Manocha
October 22, 2005 at 4:17 PM
Just came home from a jam on Airport road. One side of the road was blocked because of a bus that seemed like it had a flat tyre. The jam, as a result, extended from ASC, all the way down to the Airport and beyond. Thats almost 5 km of jam on one of the city’s arterial roads. The traffic took about 2 hours to clear up it seems. Bangalore sucks.
Anand Panicker
October 22, 2005 at 6:03 PM
I do agree….. I used to love this city…i now use my second gear more than any other gear and surprisingly true on main roads also…..
so imagind the petrol consumption and the patience that one should have… so no need to go for meditation classses for patience…just ride along bangalore roads……..
S.Satyamoorthy
November 23, 2005 at 12:10 PM
Great suggestions Vasanth. I have been pondering on those lines too and I have tried to blog some of my thoughts and suggestions here: http://o3.indiatimes.com/bangaloretraffic .
I hope we educated and intelligent folks can start making the difference and the masses follow!
Ramakrishnan
December 11, 2005 at 11:18 AM
This city is done. ITs all over in Bangalore. IT’s become just another Bihar. Let’s say modern bihar.
I am here since 5 years working in infosys. Life has become sick here. No Electricity, no roads and dirty infrastructure.
I want to quit my company if it remains here as soon as possible.
Govind
January 21, 2006 at 3:47 PM
Bangalore is a wonderful place the politicians have ruined it. It has been destroyed systematically since 2002. It’s become garbage city from what it was called as garden city.
No security ! No Power supply ! Miserable infrastructure !
Let mr Murthy go out of bangalore. Narayan Murthy is one selfish person who bothers about his own IT-people and nothing else. Why doesnt he and Premji shift that IT nonsense out of here and make this place livable.