BENGALURU: A few citizens of Vasanth Nagar have come forward with a concept to ease traffic congestion using a drone, at Dharma Prakash Deva Rao Shivaram Ubhayaker Circle. The heavy traffic flow at the circle near Sophia High School has made it one of the most dreaded junctions in the city. Thousands of people who head to places like Shivananda Circle, Vasanth Nagar, Kempegowda International Airport, City Market and Vidhana Soudha pass the junction every day.
A group of five people from Citizens 4 Citizen, a voluntary organisation based in Vasanth Nagar, conducted a month-long survey, by visiting the spot and used a drone to monitor the problems at the junction.
As a result, they found that the root cause of the problems were the two islands at the junction.
The survey showed that the traffic coming from Chalukya Hotel towards Bangalore Palace lands up in a commotion due to the islands being curvy in shape.
The ones who want to take a left turn at the junction gets stuck due to high commotion. While the other island on the right turn, which directs to planetarium, is also affected. Meanwhile, the traffic coming from Le Meridian towards Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium need to take a sharp turn because of the island.
“After weeks of visiting the spots and using a drone, we understood the real situation at the junction. The medians which were designed in a curvy shape needed to be redesigned. This drone survey method can curb the problem,” said Raj Dugar, Founder of Citizen 4 Citizen.
He further added that the solution for free flow of traffic was to redesign the two islands into one, and that adding a barricade would separate the left turn and help the traffic flow. The design was also shown to IISC Professor and a transport expert, Ashish Verma, who had also visited the spot and thought this could be a great way to reduce traffic.
The concept was also forwarded to Additional Commissioner of Police(traffic), P Harishekaran. He agreed to have it changed but soon after he was transferred, Dugar said.
“We had got a positive response from Harishekaran, but after his transfer, nothing has changed. We are trying to meet the present Joint Commissioner of police (traffic), B R Ravikanthe Gowda,” he added.