Even as residents of Koramangala were basking in the afterglow of having successfully prevented the BDA from going ahead with the Sirsi Circle-Agara Signal Free Corridor project, they appear to have another similar fight on their hands.
Barely months after the Sirsi Circle-Agara project was cancelled due to then CM Jagdish Shettar’s intervention, the residents are now opposing BBMP’s plans for a signal-free corridor from Vellara Junction to Silk Board.
BBMP invited tenders for a part of the project (an underpass from Forum Mall to Sarjapur Road) about two weeks ago. This came even though the corporation had assured of not going ahead with the project without holding public consultations. Area residents had suggested an alternate plan to BBMP to solve traffic issues in the area.
“The same fallacies in planning such as inadequate slip roads, access to public transport, pedestrian facilities and cross turning traffic all seem to have been repeated in this project too,” said Nithin Sheshadri of the Koramangala Task Force.
Residents said that constructing a 700 metre underpass will only eat away road space, which is already a problem along this stretch. Instead, residents have suggested that construction of an integrated flyover will add road space. “We want the tenders cancelled as the design is not sound. Moreover, BBMP should look at the project as a whole and not in isolation or they will only be transferring the problem from one place to another,” Sheshadri said.