BENGALURU: A major traffic bottleneck occurs daily in front of the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC), as trucks and other heavy vehicles entering the city clog the service lane. This creates a cascading effect, disrupting traffic flow on the entire stretch of road.
To relieve this choke point, a high level meet was held a couple of days ago at Vikas Soudha with top officials from the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), Public Works Department, Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE).
A representative from NICE stated, ”The completion of the BDA’s proposed integration of the Peripheral Ring Road project with NICE, along with the construction of ramps connecting the main highway to major roads, will significantly alleviate the congestion on Tumakuru Main Road near BIEC.”
As part of Bengaluru Mysuru Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project’s Link Road from Deepanjali Nagar to NICE Road (near Outer Ring Road), 500 metres of work has to be completed. “This is stalled due to land acquisition issues. If that is done, public can enter NICE link road to Expressway starting point near Kengeri within 20 minutes,” he explained.
Presently, public leaving from Bengaluru to Mysuru have to encounter five signals from Deepanjali Nagar to Kengeri Expressway starting point - RR Nagar, Jnanabharathi Junction, RV College Junction, Kengeri Satellite bus stand and Nayandahalli junction, he added. This takes 60 minutes during peak hours.
Deputy CM DK Shivakumar in an interaction with the media three months ago had also proposed completion of the BMIC project to further streamline travel between the two cities. He had specified that it would boost growth of townships in Bidadi, Ramanagara and Mandya.
Vilas P Brahmankar, Regional Officer, NHAI, Bengaluru, told TNIE, “The meeting was to discuss all options available to decongest the spot. The talks are only at a preliminary stage taking inputs from all agencies to decongest the spot.”
Another official at the meet said that the BDA had proposed a ramp to tackle this problem. “The ramp from the upcoming Peripheral Ring Road could intersect at the NICE Road. However, the PWD also has proposed something from its side,” he said.