ORR metro design tweak may ease KR Puram traffic

The traffic chaos at the KR Puram junction — where vehicles from the Outer Ring Road (ORR) and the Swami Vivekananda Road converge — may finally ease if BMRCL’s plan of a road-cum-rail flyover is finalised.

Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) is tweaking the design of a section of the ORR metro line (Phase 2A) at Krishnarajapuram, to ensure that the structure will not hinder road traffic.

BMRCL Managing Director, Ajay Seth, said the need for a design change was one of the reasons for cancelling the three-package tenders for the ORR line. “Though the earlier design holds good for the metro line, the need for the inclusion of a solution to the worsening traffic condition emerged later. So, the three-package (Doddanekkundi-KR Puram) tenders will have to be changed,” he said.

While the metro does provide an efficient transport system, the pillars for the viaducts will take away about 2.5 m of the road at the KR Puram junction, which is already a traffic nightmare.

“Once our pillars are built, there is little provision for building another flyover for road traffic. We realised that the problem requires a comprehensive engineering solution. We are exploring the possibility of a design like the proposed (multi-level) road-cum-rail flyover at the Silk Board junction,” Seth said.

Officials have also been trying to come up with a design that offers a ‘bypass-like’ arrangement between the two sections of the ORR, separated by the KR Puram bridge. “So, we are thinking whether we can go a level higher and include an elevated road along with the metro viaduct,” a BMRCL official explained.

The detailed project report had showed the ORR line ending at the Baiyappanahalli station. However, sources said, BMRCL was working on the continuity of the line from Baiyappanahalli to Hebbal on the north-eastern stretch of the ORR.

This has become necessary after BMRCL changed the alignment of the airport metro line (Phase 2B), which will now run on the ORR between Nagavara and Hebbal.

The source said there were several decisions with regard to the alignment and design, that are crucial for both ORR and the airport line, especially, with regard to the interchange station that will facilitate passenger transit to the airport line.