Short-term plans soon to decongest Silk Board junction

Motorists can expect some traffic diversions and right turns soon at the Central Silk Board junction as the Urban Development Department (UDD) and traffic police are trying various methods to decongest the area.

A team of engineers and traffic police officials headed by Mahendra Jain, Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Development Department, N Manjunath Prasad, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner and Abhishek Goyal, DCP Traffic (East) visited the junction on Tuesday morning to assess the traffic congestion. They also chalked out some short- and long-term traffic solutions to ease traffic.

Jain told DH that there are 12 high density traffic corridors in the city like the Central Silk Board to Vellara Junction, Ballari Road and Mysuru Road which need attention.

“Last week, we visited the Outer Ring Road and today we visited Central Silk Board. Some short-term measures were suggested immediate implementation. We also listed some long-term infrastructure improvement measures which will be planned in detail with financial estimates. They include  road-widening, shifting of bus stops, construction of underpasses and flyovers,” he said.

U-turn line

Adding to this, Prasad said: “We found that every 200 metres from Electronics City to Vellara Junction, there are hindrances — left turn, right turn, U- turn or a traffic signal. We are planning to have a dedicated line for U-turn so that traffic is not stopped anywhere.

Trial runs will be made at various stretches to assess the field situation before making them permanent.”  Some of the short-term solutions suggested for Central Silk Board include allowing free U-turn at some stretches like Kudlu Gate, Adugodi and Naganapalya junctions. They also decided to stop free right turns and left turns at some junctions that affect free flow. The traffic police were also directed to reduce the waiting period at traffic signals and even remove some if possible to reduce congestion.

This was apart from the already planned long-term solutions, which the Bangalore Development Authority and the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) are working on. The two departments are integrating the flyover and the Metro on cost-sharing basis.