BENGALURU: “It took me two hours to travel 1km,” said a commuter caught up in the morning peak hour traffic jam due to waterlogging on Wednesday morning.
Traffic screeched to a virtual halt in several parts of the city in the morning following Tuesday night’s downpour. While the rain cooled the city’s temperature, it exposed the holes in the city’s infrastructure.
Heavy traffic congestion was reported especially on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) and KR Puram where motorists were stuck for nearly three hours during the morning peak hours. “The traffic congestion on ORR was mainly due to stagnant water under the railway bridge near Rainbow Hospital,” said a senior traffic police officer.
Many motorists complained that waterlogging in several areas had slowed down traffic at Salem railway underbridge at Doddanekundi, Mahadevapura Junction, Silk Board Junction, Marathahalli Bridge, Anepalya Junction towards Adugodi, Sagar Hospital Junction on Banneraghatta Road, Kino Theatre Junction, Queen’s Statue Circle, Kundalahalli Junction.
ome motorists took to social media to vent their anger against BBMP for not taking steps to drain out water. “If this is the situation after a three-hour rain, then how will our civic agencies tackle heavy rains? ,” said K Ramesh, who was stuck in traffic at Doddanekundi. A few companies asked their employees to work from home.
However, traffic police claimed that traffic had eased by afternoon. “The Fire department and BBMP officials helped to drain out water. We have asked the civic agencies to come up with a permanent solution to reduce flooding on Salem railway underbridge ,” the officials added.