HOT TOPICS
SPOTLIGHT AGENCIES
Connect Old Madras Road and Whitefield Road Campiagn
madhu sudhan - 9 June, 2012 | Bangalore | Whitefield | KR Puram | Action | OMR | Flyovers and underpasses
The waiting is over !!!. We had waited enough for the Railways and BBMP to bridge the gap between Whitefield Road and Old Madras Road and ease the life of thousands of techies, school children, students, women and people in general who have to shuttle between these roads everyday to meet their needs. The BBMP and Railways have not an moved inch and are well known for their notoriety in delaying the building of an RUB/ROB connecting Whitefield road at Singanayapalya and Old Madras Road near ITI colony gate. Before the BBMP and Railway wake up from their slumber, hundreds of lives would have been lost lest we don’t realize it now.
The cable-stayed bridge was once touted as the ultimate panacea for all traffic woes of K.R. Puram, a critical, crowded, chaotic entry point to the city from the Eastern side. For its architects, the bridge was a marvel engineered to perfection. Yet today, the bridge has emerged as problem number one for many road users, caught in traffic jams triggered by vehicular growth and the structure’s poor planning. The irony was stark and clear. K.R. Puram residents, who, for decades, had to just cut across the Old Madras Road to be on the other side, have found the bridge to be an insurmountable obstruction. The citizens are forced to travel an extra 3 kms to take a U turn near the Pai Layout and are subjected to shell out extra bucks for these additional fuel and stay on these chaotic roads for another hour.
The crux of the issue is that there is no direct connectivity between Whitefield Road and Old Madras Road which has led to piling up of traffic from ITPL to the U turn at Pai Layout during the peak hours. From about 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 4.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m., traffic on Old Madras Road virtually comes to a halt. With vehicles of employees of information technology and business process outsourcing firms moving in and out of the ITPL-Whitefield area and joining trucks getting out of the Outer Ring Road, one can imagine the chaos. In the midst of this three ring circus, a amubalance screams for way to save life by accessing emergency health services from the nearest hospital.
It is a common sight to watch the two-wheelers moving on the otherside road risking their lives by negotiating on coming vehicles to enter a narrow cave right under the tracks near KR Puram railway station. Just that it’s not a cave, but a namesake subway. The railway subway built 40 years ago is located opposite to the ORR whitefield Road junction. The two wheelers take their life risk to manoeuvre through it and to have to wait until traffic from the opposite side passes them. The circus is performed by the two wheelers to save petrol, time and to avoid chaotic traffic upto Pai layout junction. But, when it rains, the two wheelers are subjected to much more hardship as they have to brave the stagant water and skiddy terrain in the subway.
The death warrant for whitefield road will be served in October 2012, when works on the Namma Metro phase 2 elevated line and stations is expected to take off. For the next five years, the road may turn into a circus pavilion.
The people living in B.Narayanapura will witness some sort of siege with the choc-o-bloc traffic on Whitefield Road and Outer Ring Road. How safe are the residents to use these roads. From Traffic snarl to a Traffic Catastrophe, Our lives are under great Risk.
Instead of praying after the arrival of the worst scenario, like the kannada saying goes ‘Sankata Bandare Venkata Ramana’ Let us start cracking and carry out joint actions with resident associations and realize our dream for traffic free connectivity to Old Madras Road.
What we want:-
- Reconstructing the old bridge near the cable stayed bridge.
- Construction of New Underpass at Singayanapalya on the Whitefield Road with ITI colony gate on Old Madras Road.
- Widening of Railway subway opposite to the outer ring road- whitefield road junction
- Widening of Roads in front of K.R. Puram Railway station
COMMENTS
Why do't you ask to extend Bangarpet - Bangalore city DEMU Train
Sanjeev - 11 June, 2012 - 08:47
As more and more facility is provided for Private vchiles, this furthr increase in pressure on roads.
Above suggestions made should be more used / applied for BMTC buses and pedistrians rather then the private vechiles.
My take for this above mess is either have farewell to Hanging Bridge. Or extend existing DEMU trains of six / eight schedules running between Bangarpet - Bangalore city to Kngeri / Bidadi. Also add some more frequency during morning and evening office timings.
As we can't f;yover the probelm in this case ie Railway Flyover, make big hole into the problem by using effectively the existing railway tracks below the flyover.
Currently their are no Local Trains / Commuter Rail between Yesvantpur - K R Puram / Whitefiled and same with Yelahanaka - Channasandra - Bayippanahhali or Yelahanaka - Channasandra - K R Puram - Whitefield even though track and electric line exists. If we can get this servics cracking at the earliest during peak hours, citizens will shift to the Suburban Trains / Commuter Rail and wil catch BMTC buses for last mile connectivity to offic or METRO to MG road.
Effect is most of the Citizens travelling by Privat vechile will get encouraged due to saving in travell time and saving travell cost. Added to that is health issues due to driving. Imagine what will be effect on the Carbon Emmission.
Its high time that people arround K R Purma should demand for effecive COmmuter Rail / Suburban Trains to over come the problem
Other wise enjoy the problem next 10 years till we have one more monument METRO next to exisiting monument Hanging Bridge
Above is Reality, we should accept it
Mostly awaited project to
pradeepecr - 14 June, 2012 - 04:00
Mostly awaited project to connect whitefield road / outer ring road to old madras road. Most of the vacant land on other side (old madras road) belongs to central goverment, Hope this project can implemented successfully. More than 2 lakhs people will get benefited and traffic flow on tin factory get reduced by this bridge.
-Pradeep
Good News! Old Madras Road and Whitefield connection soon
madhu sudhan - 27 June, 2012 - 05:06
Dear Friends,
The Connect Old Madras Road - Whitefield Road Campiagn is showing result on the ground. The Cave bridge which i have described in the above campiagn note will disappear next month. In its place, a bigger underpass(like the Beninganahalli RUB) will be built. I was told that the foundation laying ceremony will be on 7 July 2012.
Once the bridge is ready, the connectivity between Old Madras Road and Whitefield Road will become ready. It will an extension of Outer Ring Road from whitefield road Outer Ring Road junction to Old Madras Road.
Madhu Sudhan
Great, thanks for the update
silkboard - 27 June, 2012 - 07:50
Thats good news Madhu Sudhan. Thanks for sharing the update. The cave bridge is a sight in itself right now. Should post some pictures to make everyone understand the phenomena! Two wheelers drive counterflow even during busy hours, actually more during busy hours, and risk accidents. I have come close to touching a few bikes myself at least a couple of times.
PRAJA.IN COMMENT GUIDELINES
Posting Guidelines apply for comments as well. No foul language, hate mongering or personal attacks. If criticizing third person or an authority, you must be fact based, as constructive as possible, and use gentle words. Avoid going off-topic no matter how nice your comment is. Moderators reserve the right to either edit or simply delete comments that don't meet these guidelines. If you are nice enough to realize you violated the guidelines, please save Moderators some time by editing and fixing yourself. Thanks!