It was 9.45 a.m. on a rainy Monday morning, and the busy Ballari Road was chock–a–block with vehicles near Esteem Mall. It is from this point that the pace of traffic starts to slow down before motorists hit the infamous Hebbal flyover in north Bengaluru. Amidst blaring horns, the sirens of ambulances could be heard.
Two constables tasked with traffic management on the flyover made way for an ambulance. One of them explained, “The traffic from a total of nine lanes (Ballari Road, the service road and the vehicles coming from K.R. Puram) are squeezed into just two lanes on the flyover. Moreover, we see a lot of big cars with just one person inside instead of carpooling. These are the root causes of the traffic snarls.”
He remarked that traffic was particularly bad on Monday (July 15) due to the rain.
The traffic situation in Hebbal has worsened due to the ongoing flyover work by BDA. Photo : | Photo Credit: Jahnavi T.R.
The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) resumed work on constructing additional lanes on the flyover from Esteem Mall to Baptist Hospital a little over a year ago. The congestion on the road has progressively worsened, and even localities in and around Hebbal flyover have been impacted. After dismantling two lanes in April, meant for vehicles coming from K.R. Puram to get on the flyover, traffic movement has become even more difficult. The vehicle load from the dismantled ramp now falls on the service road and the service loop.
The drive across Hebbal flyover
The Hindu team commuted from Esteem Mall to Hebbal Police Station on a two-wheeler to assess the time it takes to cross the flyover between 11.10 a.m. and 11.40 a.m. It took around 13 minutes to commute a mere 900 metres and climb the ramp of the flyover. The time taken to reach Hebbal Police Station, covering a total distance of four kilometres, was 27 minutes. By this time, peak-hour traffic had started to reduce.
According to the traffic police constable, the volume of vehicles on the flyover is maximum from 8.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. Regular commuters reported that it takes anywhere between 20 minutes and one hour to cross the notorious flyover on weekdays.
Venkatesh, an autorickshaw driver, said, “It takes 20 minutes to go from Esteem Mall to the entry of the flyover. After that, it takes another 20 minutes to cross the flyover. Ever since the BDA began work on the flyover, it has become a headache to drive here.”
Increase in congestion
According to an analysis conducted by the Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) using ASTraM (Actionable Intelligence for Sustainable Traffic Management), since the work on the K.R. Puram ramp started, there has been a substantial rise in congestion between Kodigehalli Junction to Hebbal Junction. The average congestion length per day went up to 2 - 12 kilometres after the construction started from 1 - 3 kilometres. During peak hours, the average travel time has increased to a maximum of 14.6 minutes, which used to be 10.8 minutes before.
The traffic movement from Veerannapalya Junction to Hebbal Junction has also been affected, with the average travel time increasing from 5.1 minutes to 7.6 minutes during peak hours.
The additional lanes being built by the BDA are expected to be integrated with the existing ones to enable a smoother flow of traffic towards Mehkri Circle from the international airport. But the slow progress of work has left citizens wondering how much worse the situation can get before it gets better.
“For some reason, they keep dragging civic work, and we must face the brunt of it. We can only wonder when this work will be completed,” said Manjunatha, a regular commuter on the route.
