BMRCL Managing Director Pradeep Kharola has responded to the concerns of citizens on predicted traffic problems on Bannerghatta Road in Bengaluru once the Phase-II work takes off, by promising to look into the issues listed by them.

Urban mobility expert Ashwin Mahesh, along with a group of residents, had listed out the pain points on Bannerghatta Road that need to be resolved before the commencement of Phase-II Metro work. Here is the list of the bottlenecks to be solved, listed by the residents.

a) During construction, it would be extremely helpful if the foot-overpasses of the stations can be constructed FIRST. This would enable people to cross the road at different points safely. I also believe that a fully walkable, minimum 3-m wide footpath along the entire stretch would help greatly. Both of these would fetch Metro a certain amount of goodwill from the public that early in the construction itself some new value is being generated.

b) At each of the signal / junction areas, create pre-emptive U turns so that U-turning movements need not be brought to the intersection. This needs to be done at Sagar Apollo, Sarakki, G D Mara, Bilekahalli, Arekere, Hulimavu, Meenakshi Mall junctions, and maybe more. The need for and appropriate timings of signals at these places can also be re-examined.

c) To properly handle traffic diverted into Panduranga Nagar, JP Nagar, BTM etc, the alternate pathways need to be strengthened first. Also, key bottlenecks which prevent proper connectivity between roads needs to be removed, either by acquisition or removal of encroachment. Here are a few locations that come to mind, where such intervention will be needed.

    – Intersection of Arekere Gate main Rd with south end of Panduranga Nagar main rd
    – North end of Panduranga Nagar Main road
    – BG Road connectivity to Dollars Colony in Bilekahalli
    – 7th Main junction with Outer ring Road in BTM
    – Ranka Colony Road connection with 29th Main in BTM
    – Roads adjoining IIM boundary walls to the north and south, leading into Vijaya Bank Colony
    – Northeastern corner of Puttenahalli lake
    – Revenue layouts on the main road in Puttenahalli and Panduranga
    – Delmia Junction
    – 29th Main Road along Madiwala Lake
    – Kodichekkenahalli, Deverchikkanahalli road intersections with BG Road, and key bottlenecks on those roads.
    – Connection between two Metro lines between BG Road and Kanakapura road (along Arekere MICO Layout road, Chunchgutta Main Road)
    – Whether major underpasses need to be across-the-road or along the arterial
    – Road from Vijaya Bank Layout to BTM lake road, which runs near MG School, Shanti Niketan School and Raj LakeView
    – Road from Meenakshi mall to connect BTM 29th Main through IBP petrol pump near Vijaya Bank colony
    – Bommanahalli jn on Hosur Road

The residents’ group aims to resolve the issues with BBMP and Traffic Police support, to minimise the inconvenience and dangers to people throughout the construction period. It has also suggested that the Metro set up an Outreach Group for each phase, which would periodically meet to understand the progress of work, and help overcome challenges.

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