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Malleswaram underpass opens successfully
Written By mcadambi - 21 May, 2008
Bangalore Infrastructure Road Works Underpass Malleswaram
[By Malolan R Cadambi]
Malleswaram residents had welcome blessings from the gods today. No, I am not writing just about the a mild drizzle to cool down the city that we had today evening, but also about the “blessings” we received when the underpass long over due today opened for traffic.
Since I am a resident of 6th Cross Road, which is parallel to the Underpass, I could personally vouch for the massive reduction in traffic on my road as well as the pressure on Sampige Road.
Before the underpass was proposed, there was a normal four lane road, two for on coming traffic and two in the other direction. Even with this, traffic used to get chocked at the end of Malleswaram ground and used to go through 6th Cross as a thoroughfare.
Even as the underpass was being constructed, 6th Cross still used to remain a thoroughfare. But things have massively changed from today and one can even guage a small smile on the face of a lot of residents other than myself.
According to one of the MLA candidates from Malleswaram constituency, 4000 buses used to pass through Malleswaram Circle – which is strategically located at the centre of North-South routes and East-West routes.
Starting the underpass today has shown an effect on traffic.But still, private users of vehicles complain that there are too many buses and autorickshaws. Well, given that private vehicles are quite ineffecient compared to public transport (Ref: CTTP Report), the former's criticism is not valid at all.
Malleswaram is well connected even frequency wise by public transport, hence obliviating the need for much private transport to and from this ward. The upcoming Metro station on 5th Cross should also alleviate the traffic problems further.
Malleswaram is a prominent spiritual centre and a shopping centre, which draws people from all over Bengaluru. One blogger calls Malleswaram 8th Cross as “desi brigade road”. High property values in this town are a testament to the demand for this location.
But there are some “teething” (I.e starting) problems with the underpass. Nevertheless, this gets solved over a period of time as people get used to the new (or rather) old routes. Sampige and Margosa roads are back to being one ways as they were for decades.
There is still a problem for traffic coming west from Gutahalli main road and heading towards Rajajinagar. They still have to get caught at the small Coconut Avenue roads that lies at the junction of Geethanjali Theatre, the underpass and Link Road. Designers and planners have to address this particular bottleneck as one section of the underpass is relatively un-used.
In a brief interview with Dr S Subrahmanya, the Honourable Commissioner of B.B.M.P, he said that the access roads parallel to the underpass would be complete soon and a modern bus shelter would be installed opposite to the Police Station, where it was located since decades.
I did see a smile on his face, perhaps justified given that the Malleswaram underpass was quite successful in doing what it set out to do – reduce burden on inner areas of Malleswaram and provide a quicker transit for traffic flowing on arterial routes.
COMMENTS
silkboard - 21 May, 2008 - 15:04
Thanks for the update Malolan. This is it, right?
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tsubba - 21 May, 2008 - 17:39
me the ubergeek of Malleswaram is a 4th generation resident here. hard to believe, but that is the case. we are living in the same property my great grand father bought in 1906! yes, we still have the title deed from that era!
Naveen - 21 May, 2008 - 14:14
Hullo Malolan,
Since you reside at Malleswaram, I just wanted a little information :
Sampige road has many shops & a market that are very well patronized & pedestrian priorities are, I feel a necessity there.
If Sampige road were chosen for a bus corridor, & for cycles & pedestrians only, (buses running at it's centre, whilst leaving room at sides for cycle tracks & pedestrians), can the road opposite BP Indian High School (starting immediately west of KC gen hospital, west of the ground) be made to handle all other traffic one way ? Margosa road (east of the ground) is already used as one way in the other direction.
I had gone around the area earlier, studying this aspect & felt that this was possible as this road is quite wide.
What are your thoughts ? Appreciate your comments, thanks.
mcadambi - 21 May, 2008 - 15:15
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