BENGALURU: Some simple solutions are what we need to reduce traffic congestion, and the massive steel flyover project can be put to rest, say city experts.
They suggest small changes at various junctions. For instance, besides increasing public transport and amenities for cycling and walking, making Planetarium Road two-way, widening the Windsor Manor underpass to eight-lane, constructing a small flyover at Cauvery Theatre, completing widening of Ballari Road at Palace Grounds and expanding the Hebbal flyover can reduce congestion, they say.
This, however, has to be done along with creating alternative routes to the airport, in order to make sense of all the infrastructure changes in this route, and to divert the traffic along Hebbal.
Architect Naresh Narasimhan said, “We do not need to waste huge public money to solve our mobility problem. If Planetarium Road is made two-way, half the problem will be solved. Then we might require a small flyover of 300m at Cauvery Theatre towards Windsor Manor. And Hebbal flyover has to be converted into a four-lane. If these are backed with traffic rerouting, we can solve most of the problems, he said.
There are many pending works on this particular stretch. While the Hebbal flyover widening by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), at a cost of Rs 80 crore, is yet to be taken up, road widening at Esteem Mall by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) near Hebbal too has not seen any progress.
Sanjeev V Dyamannavar, member of Praja RAAG, an advocacy group, says, “Ballari road-widening from Mekhri Circle to BDA Head Office has been pending for the last five years.”
Traffic expert M N Sreehari said, “There are five alternative routes to airport. Once we open them, the load on Hebbal will reduce. There can be small passovers at Cauvery Junction and other places. But we need to bring mono rail and Metro instead of a massive steel flyover, which is definitely not a permanent solution.”
However, Ashish Verma, mobility expert from Transportation Research Group of India (TRG), points out, “Management of traffic, when we have reached a saturation point, does not help. Experiments adopted by the traffic police have failed. We need change in government policy that will encourage people to take up public transport. I feel we should not build flyovers or underpasses as clearly they are not the answer.”