The Agara and Iblur junction flyover project kick-started in October 2008 and is scheduled to be completed in a span of 18 months.
The project includes three flyovers – two at Agara and one at Iblur. Dedicated bus lanes and grade level roads are also part of the project. BDA officials say that this project is to ease traffic between Iblur and Agara junctions, and also part of the BDA’s dream project of making Outer Ring Road signal-free. The combined cost of the project is Rs. 93.94 crores.
Construction drill material for the flyover seen at the Outer Ring Road. (pic: Meera K)
Like any project, this one has its own set of problems, leaving the common man worried. Residents of the nearby HSR Layout and commuters who use that section of the Outer Ring Road (ORR) are apprehensive about the outcome of the project and are already dreading the traffic nightmares during construction. The narrowed roads, construction material spilling on to the street and no proper traffic management – these are only some of the complaints that have been voiced.
Some say that the flyovers aren’t necessary; others say that the project is only going to end up being a big mess. Raghu, an autodriver, says, “This will help solve the traffic problem”. But his friend, Sudhakar disagrees, saying the flyover isn’t needed and it’s the traffic police who need to do a better job of manning the traffic at the Agara junction.
Like other previous projects, many believe that it is going to be hell to commute through this route during the construction work. Brigadier RS Murthy, President, HSR Sector 2 Resident’s Association, says that the BDA will block all routes to HSR Layout from Agara junction, adding, “This has happened before when they were constructing the flyover at the Silk Board junction. It’s going to be a bottleneck. How will HSR Layout residents go home from ORR? Has the BDA addressed all these issues before they began construction?” Another resident Hiramath says, “The traffic here is chaotic. They are going to end up making a mess out of it.”
Trees cut to widen road for Agara flyover. (pic: Vaishnavi Vittal)
But BDA officials say there will not be any inconvenience during the construction work. Assistant Executive Engineer, Prem Kumar says, “Traffic won’t be affected. Barricading has been done. And we are using machinery like royal rig to speed up the work.” Reducing the lane width, removal of the central median and bringing down trees – these are some of the measures taken to help ‘ease’ traffic here.
Commuters like Kailash say that there will definitely be a problem during the project work. A Channakeshava, Secretary, HSR Sector 2 Resident’s Association, says, “There is absolutely no design or plan idea. How will the HSR residents get home once the flyover is built?” Prem Kumar says that the project has been designed keeping in mind drains, pavement and even landscaping.
It’s not just the commuters and nearby residents who are bearing the brunt of the project, it’s the trees too. At least 189 trees are being felled (depending on the age of the tree) or transplanted for this project. With the Lok Adalat’s recent ruling that trees cannot be cut without prior sanction from them, Prem Kumar says the forest department has got the necessary permissions from the High Power Committee of the Lok Adalat to chop or transplant the trees according to the space required for the project.
Traffic jam along the ORR with start of the flyover construction. (pic: Meera K)
Brig. Murthy opines that eventually all the construction material will get dumped in the nearby Agara Lake. “Why is there a need to build this flyover? First clear those unauthorised vendors at the Agara junction. And where will pedestrians walk? There is no pavement at all. The BDA has to look into all of this.” Resident Hema Venkataramana says that it is the speed of work that is important. “Traffic at the Central Silk Board junction is bad, this flyover will help but it needs to be done properly and should not add to the chaos”, she says.
As per the Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure Development (ABIDe) Task Force recommendations, Sarjapur Road is one of the ten ORR junctions marked for improvement. Bus bays, shelters and footpaths have been planned. Also, wherever available, service roads along ORR are to be completed. Priority (not dedicated) bus lanes to be marked on all these ten routes for faster movement of public transport. ABIDe recommendations also says that the path between ORR should be made into a six-lane, signal-free and junction-free pathway.
BDA has revealed no concrete plans for alternate traffic management during the project work. As the public debates about whether the project will help them travel faster or only add to their already-existing traffic woes, BDA continues the work in full swing.
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I am resident on 27th Main road, just where the flyover starts. Although all road and public infrastructure work is done for improvement of traffic and betterment of people, the unseen losses are huge and even more than the cost of the project. For instance, the cost of this project is Rs 93.5 crores. Each car spends minimum 1.5 litres of extra fuel passing agara and each bike about half a litre. At an average there are 150 cars per 10 minutes that pass agara junction this means per hour 1500 cars cross in one hour and a total of 4500 cars in the morning rush hour traffic = 4500 X 1.5 litres = 6750 litres of fuel = Rs 337000 at the bare minimum, not adding the bikes and transport vehicles. Now the same thing happens for 4 hours in the evening – this costs the avergare Janta Rs 6.66 lacs daily – Monthly it turns out to 159 lacs or 1.59 crores. Multiply this by 18 months, the expected duration of the project and that’s a whooping 2862 lacs or 28 crores in expected losses – A national waste. Although these estimates are conservative, I am sure that it would be prudent to even double the amount to realize the actual volume of money lost.If this was a western country, the people would sue the government and extract that money, but for ours where we seem to accept that we are at the BDA’s mercy. I downgraded from a car to a motorcycle and with this construction, I am probably going to buy a cycle or walk it down to Sarjapura to my office. I think it is high time the government started considering the common mans problems and being sensitive to these issues. We can talk and comment on this portal, but ultimately, non of us including my self, have the time or motivation to set things straight — Reason being it will cost us our life time and that’s is too precious to waste.
I stay in Mantri Sarovar and drive down towards ITPL every morning. What used to take me 30 mins to office has started taking me 50 mins to an hour. Not only I have to leave my home early, I reach office in a state where I am unable to give my full.
Even though I support govt’s idea of building the flyover, I think the BDA should have diverted the traffic forehand or atleast increased the lane width to the side where the flyover is build. The service lane from the proposed Flyover Junction towards HSR layout is unused and should be developed immediately and used to ease out traffic problems !!!