KG Road, City's busiest, now a pedestrian's nightmare

Footpath dug up for TenderSURE on one side, the other becomes parking lot and junkyard

The ongoing road work, illegal parking and dumping of construction material on footpaths have turned KG Road into a pedestrian’s nightmare.

The road, which acts as the link to the Kempegowda Bus Stand and the Bengaluru City railway station, is one of the busiest in the City as hundreds of buses, cabs and auto-rickshaws ply on it, ferrying lakhs of people every day. That the offices of Bengaluru Urban district administration, the BWSSB and the City Civil and Sessions Court are located on KG Road only add to more traffic.

Amid the chaotic traffic situation, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is upgrading this road under the TenderSURE project, under which footpaths are given utmost importance. But by the time the project is completed — which may take years — pedestrians will have no option but to walk on the busy road amid a stream of vehicles.

While the footpath on the Nabard (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) office side has been dug up for building a better footpath under TenderSURE, the pavement towards the Shikshakara Sadan has been converted into a parking lot, and a junkyard of construction material.

As a result, pedestrians have virtually no footpath. They risk their lives by walking on the road. Further reducing the extent of the road are police barricades put up near the pedestrian skywalk for parking cars, auto-rickshaws and two wheelers whose drivers violate traffic rules. At this spot, the pedestrian has to walk right in the middle of the road.

Gajendra, who had come by bus to the Bengaluru Urban deputy commissioner’s office to get some property-related documents, said that he was “very scared” to walk on the road as there was no footpath left.

“Footpath has been dug up on the one side while illegal parking and dumping of construction material have left no place to walk on the other. There is no traffic policeman or any mechanism to make vehicles slow down,” he explained. “This is the most dangerous place in Bengaluru for pedestrians today.” Whatever little space is left on footpath has been encroached upon by roadside vendors, he lamented.

According to Palike officials, the road may need at least two to three years for completion. At present, the stretch between Bannappa Park and Mysore Bank Circle on KG Road has been selected for TenderSURE project, which the BBMP intends to extend till the Upparpet police station.