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Monday Madness or Rains or Something else?
Written By Ravi_D - 15 September, 2009
Traffic Bangalore Citizen Reports traffic management Traffic jams
Did you notice yesterday's (Monday) traffic mess?
I had to do 6 trips y'day (Mysore Road, Indian Express, BTM, CBD Area). Every single one took almost twice as long as it generally takes. Five others I spoke to had the same experience (travelling in different parts of Bangalore).
Was it Monday madness? It is true that traffic on Monday is generally heavier. But by experience, it generally adds about 10 minutes to an hour's travel. Not twice as much.
Could it be overnight rains? Could be, but my experience is that once rains stop (as it did very early in the morning), only a few stretches experience difficulty. Not most of Bangalore (certainly not in the center of the city as it was y'day).
Did we all start later than usual due to rains after a nice weekend? Possible. But not very convincing.
Could it be those just formed pot holes and ponds on the road? Think so. Almost half the left-lane on many stretches became unusable. And potholes magically form all of a sudden as soon as city gets two spells of rain.
So who is to blame? Your guess is as good as mine. What do you think?
Ravi
COMMENTS
blrsri - 15 September, 2009 - 05:51
Have said many times on Praja..all we need is Tow Trucks..we have a huge population of aging vehicles and we desperately need these tow trucks to move broken down vehicles out of the way!
Ravi, yesterdays Mysore Rd flyover jam was due to stalled truck on the flyover and this delayed people a lot and had a domino effect on other junctions also..
more here: http://www.hindu.com/2009/09/15/stories/2009091560430300.htm
Infosys has donated Hoysala jeeps which are more or less now used for collecting hafta's now..instead if Mr. Sood's team can work with the industries to procure Tow trucks..it would be really worthwhile!
We also have trees falling frequently in rains..these tow trucks can also double to clear debris also..
If they are not able to raise money for the tow trucks..we can also start collecting for the Tow truck cause..I am ready to give a thousand rs..
My ride yesterday was ultra smooth!!!
s_yajaman - 15 September, 2009 - 06:18
I had the same experience on Aug 17 when it took 45 mins to cover the stretch between BG Road and Silkboard Jn.
Yesterday decided to tak BG Road from JP Nagar to Richmond Town instead of Jayanagar and Double Road. It took me all of 30 mins. I kept to 45 kmph or less for the whole stretch. Of course - I left at 4:30 in the evening and not peak hours.
BlrSri is right - it was a broken down sand lorry on Sirsi Circle flyover. It should never have made it up there in the first place. I also think that because of the Metro work near Anil Kumble circle a lot of traffic is piling up in the approach roads.
Srivathsa
rs - 15 September, 2009 - 06:55
Well, yesterday it took me an hour and a half to do the 12 km stretch from Malleswaram to Kengeri - I made the mistake of going through Cottonpet and that took 40 minutes. It wasnt clear to me what the cause was appart from the usual
-- people not stopping before intersections but inching, or rather footing, into the road.
-- Impotent police.
-- Debris and stopped cars/autos blocking lanes.
-- two wheelers thinking that its fine to go the wrong way - and doing so with impunity.
On the way back too it took me an hour and 20 minutes - a couple of busses had broken down in front of Gopalan mall on Mysore road resulting in complete chaos - as it is the road narrows there and with the broken down busses it became effectively one lane.
In fact I took the `direct route' from Malleswaram to Kengeri - instead of the Outer Ring Road to `save time'. Thanks to the closure of Tumkur road the next interesection of the ORR - at Subhash Chandra Bose circle - has become hellish.
TOW TOW vehicles please traffic Gurus!
srinidhi - 24 January, 2011 - 06:44
We are spending lakhs on traffic management facilities..monitoring etc..but we dont have tow trucks in this city..
Today there were two BMTC busses which broke down, one on Mysore road during morning peak hours and the other on Mission road..these could have easily been towed away and the jam cleared..but no we dont do anything about it!
The Mysore road bus was finally being towed by a tractor..yes a tractor..which apparently was doing some drilling on the drain as part of the road widening project there..all cos of a concerned traffic cop on site!
About the mission road breakdown..this was right after the corporation bus stop..heavy bus traffic slowed all vehicles on this two lane road as they were trying to negotiate the stalled bus..no tow truck in sight!
Very sad that we try to widen roads and cut trees as an answer to our traffic problems..whos solution lies else where all together!
Yes true, its just overnight rains
dvsquare - 15 September, 2009 - 05:21
Or its actually carelessness by BBMP.
I go from koramangala to Outer-ring road and in between it falls the road by the side of agara lake. That road's condition is awesome. The left part of the road is anytime filled with sand, and at the time of rain, it gets slippery, 2 wheelers cannot ride there anytime rain or no-rain. Apart from that, there are so many holes in there, and rain water just be there. Also the dividers are there for namesake, all the divider stones are present whole on the road excpet the division where it should be. Then some stupid peoples start taking the opposite traffic coming road also to go against the traffic making the situation worse.
I have twice or thrice sent the pictures to the TOI etc, and they have published also, but nothing much done.
Also, there is a site by the side of the road, where construction is going on. That constructor has carelessly thought of road as his private property, and he is dumping all the construction waste on the road, also the sand and mud on the road is because of that construction only. Their trucks come on the road directly with all mud and sand and make full use of those undividing dividers and making the whole road pathetic, risking the lives of padestrians and 2-wheelers there.
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