Projects choke Nayandahalli
Traffic bottleneck expected to last for another 15 months at the junction
A spate of ongoing road projects has turned the Nayandahalli junction a traffic bottleneck. Commuters may do well to avoid the stretch, at least for the next 15 months.
Work on the Metro project has been going on at the junction for the last one year. The construction of a double flyover which began recently, has further aggravated the traffic chaos. Road users have to either bear the brunt of the project work to ease traffic congestion in future, or take an alternative route.
Movement of vehicles was allowed from Magadi ring road towards Banashankari ring road recently. At the same time, the Bangalore Development Authority took up the double flyover project. Coupled with the ongoing Metro work, the flow of traffic has gone from bad to worse at the junction.
However, simultaneous projects on the stretch have not gone well with the road- using public. Their grouse is that the agencies concerned should have taken precautionary steps before launching the two major projects. The road should have been widened before erecting barricades. A temporary bridge could have been constructed over Vrushbhavati canal to facilitate movement of vehicles, they said.
The BDA has taken up construction of a double flyover, claimed to be first of its kind in the City, for a signal-free corridor at the junction. Two flyovers — one at a height of 18 feet on the ring road and another at a height of 36 feet on Mysore Road — are under construction. Both are signal-free except the ones at the ground level. Soil testing to erect concrete piers has already been carried out.
“Re-modelling of the drainage at the junction is in progress. The work would be completed in fifteen months,” BDA engineer-member R Srinivas said.
Metro station
The last station of Metro east-west corridor is also coming up near the junction. The last stoppage towards on the eastern end has been named a terminal for the Metro. It has been proposed to extend the rail route up to Kengeri in the second phase.
The Metro project had not hindered vehicular movement to a large extent so far. Half of the work on erecting piers has been completed. The sub-station of Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited, which came in the way of work, was evacuated last week. The shifting of transformers and high-tension transmission lines at the sub-station is expected to be completed by the month-end. “The work on the Metro station will gain steam subsequently,” BMRCL spokesperson B L Yashwanth Chavan said.
