BENGALURU: Commuters along the road between KR Puram and Silk Board — notorious for traffic congestion — will soon be able to enjoy a smooth ride. A dedicated bus lane will come up along this stretch by November. On Sunday, officials from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahangara Palike (BBMP), Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd (BESCOM) and Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) conducted a spot inspection in this regard.
An official from BMTC confirmed that the officials from various departments have finalised plans for a dedicated bus lane on this stretch. “The BBMP commissioner wants a dedicated bus lane by November 1.” BBMP Commissioner B H Anil Kumar had posted on his twitter account that the civic agency had identified 30 km of road network to start with for dedicated bus lanes along high-density traffic corridors.
A BBMP official pointed out that the plan was to have dedicated bus lanes at 12 high-density corridors in the city. After they start with the KR Puram-Silk Board stretch, they will look into the others.
“This stretch is one of the worst traffic-affected. Having a bus lane might help reduce traffic congestion and it will also encourage people to adopt public transport. A good extent of space is available as well and we are expecting to have the Phase 1 start by November 1,” the official said.
Citizens are all for the dedicated bus lane. “This is one of the best news. I hope it really gets implemented. The need of the hour is to promote public transport in traffic-congested place,” said Yoginath R, a resident from KR Puram.