No end to white-topping woes, RV Road works start

White-topping of the five-kilometre stretch between Prof Shivashankar Circle (Lalbagh West Gate) to Banashankari TTMC beginning today, may result in further traffic chaos.

Recently, the city traffic police gave permission to the BBMP for the white-topping of the RV Road.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has advised commuters to use alternative routes to avoid traffic snarls.

“Work will be taken up on one side of the metro corridor. So, traffic will be restricted to one stretch at a time,” a senior BBMP official said.

“Initially, the work will start from the South End Circle side towards the Lalbagh West Gate,” the official added.

Interestingly, the BBMP’s advice to use alternative roads has only added to the problems of the commuters in South Bengaluru. Already one side of the KR Road has been blocked at different stretches, thanks to white-topping.

Besides, the roads passing through VV Puram have also been blocked for traffic in some of the junctions forcing the motorists to circumnavigate to reach the JC road towards Central Bengaluru.

About white-topping

The BBMP project to lay concrete roads — white-topping as it is known in official parlance — is turning into a never-ending nightmare for the citizens. In the past two years, the civic body has initiated white-topping in many stretches across the city.

Work started on white-topping 94.5 km of roads in some of the city’s central areas at a cost of Rs 986 crore last year. Five months after the deadline, just 15% of the work is done. Undeterred, the BBMP is extending the project to 41 additional roads in the heart of the city and to the proposed Peripheral Ring Road.

The BBMP initially planned to complete the work in nine months time. But the project was delayed due to the failure in getting permission from the traffic police. Later, BBMP started work on half the carriageway in a few stretches to make way for vehicles.