Traffic Talk

The morning of October 29, 2018 saw chaos on the ITPL main road at Whitefield in Bengaluru, when the Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL)  natural gas pipeline sprung a leak in front of Decathlon during BMRCL operations. The Bengaluru Traffic Police tweeted that the traffic had been diverted to accommodate the repair teams. By 10 am, it was announced by the GAIL DGM Operations, Senthil Kumar that the leak was plugged. While there was a lot of talk about the traffic situation it caused, the accident raises several questions about safety and more importantly about what lies below Bangalore’s…

A screen-grab of the Republic Day Parade 2015. Pic: YouTube The Republic Day 2016 ceremonial parade will be held at the Field Marshal Manekshaw Parade Grounds on Cubbon road on January 26th at 9 am. His Excellency, the Governor of Karnataka will receive the salute. The City Traffic Police has made the following traffic arrangements in and around the area. Parking and entry into Parade Ground Invitees with Yellow Car Passes are requested to come on to Cubbon road and enter Gate No.1 facing the northern side of the parade ground, and park their vehicles on the western side of…

In anticipation of the possible rush of traffic at the railway station and at bus stands, the Bengaluru Traffic Police has made special arrangements for traffic on October 21st . Impacted areas include City railway station, Kempegowda bus terminal, Shanthinagar bus terminal, Mysore road bus terminal, Yeswantpur bus terminal and Chikka Lalbagh bus terminal. In addition, private vehicles will not be allowed to use some roads, and parking has been banned on some others. Do remember that KSRTC has also planned for 1,500 additional buses for the Dasara weekend, so there is bound to be more vehicles on the city roads.  …

This is an idea of how Chalukya Circle (CC) Junction and surrounding areas can be made signal-free with existing infrastructure. The idea if implemented will make the following four bottle necks signal free and cross-traffic free. Chalukya Circle AG's Office signal on Palace Road Palace Road-Sankey Road Junction Miller Tank Bund Road-Sankey Road.  The following roads lead into and away from the circle.  Raj Bhavan Road - one way from Raj Bhavan to Chalukya Circle Race Course Road - two way Palace Road from Maharani's college side - two way Palace Road towards Cunningham Road - one way towards Cunningham…

Traffic management and parking arrangements. Pic: facebook.com/BangaloreTrafficPolice The annual Independence Day Ceremonial Parade will be held at Field Marshal Manekshaw Parade Grounds, Cubbon road on August 15th at 9 am. The Honourable Chief Minister of Karnataka will receive the salute.  The Bangalore Traffic Police has made the following parking and traffic arrangements in and around the area. Parking arrangements  Invitees with yellow car passes are to come on to Cubbon road and enter Gate 1 facing the northern side of the Manekshaw Parade Ground, and park their vehicles on the western side of the ground. Invitees with white car passes,…

A couple of years ago, the government came up with a hare-brained plan to construct underpasses on Sarjapur road. The sole reason for this was to benefit a private builder developing a large area on the wetlands of Bellandur lake. The residential areas along the way would have been decimated, but that was of no concern to the powers that be. Citizens went to court and finally a negotiated settlement was arrived at between citizens and the government. A government-appointed commission, in its final report, stated that the real problem was on Hosur road and that had to be treated…

The ever-busy Silk Board junction. Pic: Abhishek Chandel The clock chimed seven on a balmy Wednesday evening, as I peered out of the dusty window of my motionless office bus. A cacophony of voices, the humdrum of engines, snatches of conversation and a curse word or two greeted my eardrums. The scene in front of my eyes appeared as dull and despondent as my day had turned out. A middle-aged lady driving back home from office killed her car's engine, and got busy yelling instructions to the domestic help about that evening's repast over her phone. A bored taxi driver…

A huge crowd in front of the Dharmarayaswamy temple, this is the only entrance path used by the Veerakumaras and other followers. There were people as far as the eyes could see. People were on almost top of every balcony and roof. Pic: Amoghavarsha JS The annual Dharmarayana Karaga is scheduled to start on April 3rd, 8 pm and will go on till April 4th, 8 pm. More than 18 pallakis will be coming in from different parts of the city.  Here are the traffic diversions in place during the procession. The ramp in front of City Market will be closed…

In the early hours of the morning, (and I really mean ungodly hours), the peace and calm of the locality is only interrupted by the occassional chirping of early birds out to get worms. Or so we've heard. To the residents of the locality of Byrasandra (the place is as unglamourous as it sounds, trust me), this would be a novel concept. One that they would in all probability not even be aware of. In this BBMP-forsaken area, the early hours of the morning are filled with resounding honking, loud enough even to wake the dead. I'm half surprised there…

  Auto Rickshaws in the city have once again come into the limelight with the recent Auto Raid that was conducted by the Bangalore Traffic Police (BTP). On June 30th, over 700 members of the BTP, dressed in plainclothes, embarked on an operation to track down auto drivers who were not doing their due diligence to society. At the end of the 15-hour long sting operation, around 3,350 auto drivers were fined, and 450 autos were seized.The Auto Raid also threw up a shocking statistic - four in every ten auto drivers in the city were errant! Rules for auto…