Preetam’s car stopped for the second time at the Nayandahalli Junction. It took him ten minutes to get through the signal. After several glances at his watch, “There is too much work going on at this signal,” Preetam, a BBM student at the PES College, said.” I am at least 20 minutes late to college no matter how early I start from home,” he said rolling up his windows to stop the dust from the cloud that perpetually linger above the junction where the road from the Sirsi Circle and Outer Ring Road intersect with the Mysore Road.
Despite the Bangalore Traffic Police’ (BTP) claim that the congestion caused by the ongoing projects at the Nayandahalli Junction have eased out now, commuters continue facing delays in getting across this intersection. They say that there are no alternate roads available.
The BDA has been constructing two flyovers at this junction to provide commuters with a signal-free corridor. BDA officials say that while the first flyover between the Banashankari Road end and Magadi Road end on the Outer Ring Road will be operational by August 15, the other one perpendicular to this will take another five months for completion.
In addition to this, the BMRCL is constructing the Nayandahalli railway station which is the last station on this lane. Vehicles approaching Nayandahalli zip through the Mysore Road from Kengeri and invariably get caught at the junction. Similar is the case from the incoming vehicles from the other three roads that meet at the crossroad which is manned by at least four traffic policemen at all times who barely manage to alleviate the jam.
Road widening project disrupts commuters
However, Sub-Inspector (Traffic) Shivamadhu who has been regulating traffic at this junction for a year believes that traffic has reduced here. When asked why commuters still seem unhappy with the conditions, he said, “There is some work in progress. And a lot of machinery and other property belonging to the BDA and BMRCL flank the roads. These things we cannot help.”
Traffic police also feel that the road widening project around the Hosaguddadahalli signal is a bigger problem, especially on the road leading towards Nayandahalli from Sirsi Circle.”
We are expected to traverse K R Market to Kengeri in one hour and 10 minutes but during peak hours, we spend almost 45 minutes at this junction alone,” says a BMTC driver Shivakumar, who has been driving on this route and has to deal with this almost the entire day. His conductor Manjunath rues that on failing to traverse the route on time, the BMTC management issued memos to them.
“It is a black mark entry in our service books.” he said, looking at the long line of vehicles ahead of which the intersection is obscured.
Sunday evenings are really the worse for Umesh, a BMTC bus driver for nine years. “It is because you have the traffic flow into the city from Mysore through this junction. Sometimes, we have to stop two or three times before passing the signal.” he laments.
“A memo may either result in a cut in our increment or in salary. I already have received two memos because I failed to do the trips through this route,“ said Umesh who does eight trips on this route every day. “This is the most occluded junction I have seen in my experience,” he observed.Traffic police also feels that the Nagarbhavi Road must have been opened after the completion of the flyover.
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