An empty street due to the Bengaluru bandh on Tuesday.
Credit: DH Photo
Traffic in the city showed green on navigation applications on Tuesday, indicating that traffic flow was smooth throughout the day, owing to the bandh. Even towards the evening, traffic flow remained largely the same, except for a few areas that saw movement slowing down in the evening rush.
Traffic police across the four divisions that have several of these junctions reported over a 50 per cent reduction in traffic, especially due to schools being shut and a majority working from home.
In the south, Bellandur, Silk Board Junction, Sarakki Junction, Jayadeva Junction, Hosur Road and Sarjapur Road were among the few high density areas that saw only about 30 per cent of the regular traffic flow throughout the day.
Similarly, in the east, the Old Madras Road, ITPL Main Road, HAL Old Airport Road, and the areas around Mahadevapura, Marathahalli, Hoodi and Whitefield saw as low as 20% of the regular traffic load. Kuldeep Kumar Jain, DCP Traffic East, said that this was because offices along the IT belt had instructed their employees to work from home and only essential services on the road.
The Sumanahalli junction on the Outer Ring Road is one of the few junctions in the west that regularly sees traffic choking but was clear with free-flowing traffic all day. Other areas, such as Magadi Road and KR Circle saw no traffic hold-ups, said Anita B Haddannavar, DCP Traffic West, who estimated traffic must have been about 25% of the regular flow.
Hebbal, CMTI junction, and Goraguntepalya junctions in the north division saw minimal traffic movement, said the traffic police. Sachin Ghorpade, DCP Traffic North, noted that although the traffic flow was between 15-20% of the usual levels all day, it could have climbed to about 40% by the evening.