BANGALORE: The Hebbal flyover is one of the longest in the country and allows easy entry to the commuters coming from all directions.
It is a well planned construction which has eased the travel and the traffic, with a view of the Hebbal lake and the twin towers.
But at the same time the unplanned bus stops just at the point where the flyover ends and the ugly downside of the flyover overshadow its positive aspects.
The flyover was built to ease the traffic during the peak hours. It has been successful in easing travel to KR Puram, Old Madras Road, Yelahanka, Yeshwantpur, Hosur, districts like Kolar, Tumkur connecting NH 4 and Hyderabad via NH 7.
But on the other hand the bus stops at the beginning and the end of the flyover are matters of concern as they are becoming the cause of several accidents on a regular basis.
The underpass just before the flyover is far from the bus stop, as a result the pedestrians avoid walking up till the underpass and choose to cross the busy road where the fast moving vehicles hit them quite often. There are many traffic related issues in the busy evening and morning hours.
The buses going to Yelahanka and BIAL, travel on the right side of the left lane on the flyover and suddenly shift to the left to take the passengers from the bus stop. This leads to collision.
The condition gets chaotic and dangerous during the peak hours when the passengers waiting for the bus rush towards the bus and the pedestrians scurry around to cross the road.
Due to the existence of numerous institutions and offices, this area is generally very crowded.The major problem with the flyover is that it has only two lanes, leaving a huge number of vehicles going to Yelahanka and BIAL passing through one single lane.
“The accidents mainly happen on the point where the vehicles coming from the left lane take a U-turn to go up on the flyover and collides with the fast moving traffic coming from Mekhri circle going above the bridge,” said Amrit, a vegetable vendor who sits where the flyover starts.
It is clearly evident that even after witnessing several accidents people still do not hesitant to take U-Turns.
Intriguingly the U-turn at that point is not allowed.
Coming to the condition below the flyover, it is highly disappointing to see the pathetic condition below the bridge where the BDA had proposed to build a park.
But presently there is nothing more to be seen then a barren land used for parking private vehicles and cabs.
Secondly, crossing the railway track below the flyover is very dangerous. People find it very risky and inconvenient to cross it. But they have no other option than to cross it to go on to the otherside of the track.
On one hand when the BBMP is boasting about the murals done on the walls all over the city, the tattered and the torn movie and advertisement posters on the side walls below and on the flyover lies untouched and are stealing the show of the well planned and beautifully built flyover.
SPECIFICATION FOR THE FLY OVER
The Hebbal fl yover is the longest fl yover in the country that was built at a cost of `66.2 crore by BDA.
It is 5.35 kilometres in lenght and covers 20 acres of land with 2 carriageways, and has 6 loops.This was the fi rst fl yover in south to sport interchange at fi ve levels. Also, it was the fi rst fl yover in the city with vehicle-activated sensor signaling system.
The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) was suppose to build a park on the barren land below the Hebbal flyover. This land is at the moment is utilised by private cab drivers along with street vendors to park their vehicles. However, the BDA officials claim to start the work by the next month.
“Bangalore development authority is in charge of developing that land. There were talks about the land being handed over to the BBMP for the development.
However, it is still under the BDA and they are developing it,” said an official of the BBMP.
The BDA executive engineer, Manjunath Prasad said, “We have called the tender for the construction.
We are still in process and in another 15 days the work will start. We are planning to built a tree park below the Hebbal flyover.”