Work on upgrading the Hebbal flyover finally began after a year's delay. While the project is expected to ease commuting around north Bengaluru, it will pose temporary hiccups to commuters travelling towards KR Puram and Tumakuru Road because of diversions.
Bangalore Development Minister K J George on Monday laid the foundation to make Hebbal junction signal free. Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) will construct a uni-directional underpass for traffic from Tumakuru Road going towards KR Puram. BDA will dismantle the existing loop of the Hebbal flyover to KR Puram side and will connect this traffic to the loop connecting Tumakuru Road to the city and will construct a three-lane flyover parallel to Hebbal flyover from Nagawara side towards Esteem Mall. The total project cost is Rs 87 crore.
BDA engineers said traffic flow from the airport to the city will not be affected; traffic below the flyover will be diverted. Officials said no roads will be closed and work will go on in phases. But traffic movement will slow down because no pre-cast technology will be used.
Hebbal flyover was inaugurated in 2008 when the passenger car units was 5,000-6,000. When the airport opened by 2011-12, PCU was around 15,000 and by 2015-16, it touched 30,000.
George said nobody had expected the city and traffic to grow so fast and hence a change in the existing infrastructure was needed. “Nobody had thought the temperature will touch 39 degree Celsius also. There is thus a need to restrict growth as far as possible. Planned real estate growth is not a problem, illegal constructions need to be curtailed,” George said.
Agriculture Minister Krishna Byregowda urged George and BDA to complete the work within the stipulated time (two years). For the safety of pedestrians and commuters, he sought the construction of a pedestrian underpass. This long-pending demand was ignored yet again, he said.
MLC Y A Narayanswamy also sought a railway underpass to ease commuting.
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