As Mysuru Road is jammed, commuters rail at BBMP

After almost a year, the BBMP has started white-topping a 100-metre stretch of Mysuru Road, resulting in huge traffic jams along the busy highway.

Work on a 100-metre stretch outside the Satellite Bus Station is leading to traffic jams during peak hours, with tailbacks reaching until Nalanda Theatre, which is more than two kilometres away.

Needless to say, local residents and regular commuters are furious with the BBMP.

In 2018, the civic body had white-topped Mysuru Road from Deepanjali Nagar to Nalanda Theatre junction. The project was widely criticised for substandard work, poor planning and causing traffic snarls. To make matters worse, the BBMP didn’t white-top both the lanes.

BMTC and KSRTC drivers using the Satellite Bus Station have been affected the most. “The road is already narrow. This work has used up half of it,” a BMTC driver told DH. “Driving out of the bus station by avoiding other vehicles is a mammoth task. A single bus leaving the bus station will throw traffic out of gear right until the signal.”

Residents say the white-topping was not needed at all as the road was asphalted not long ago. Syed Pasha, who runs a hotel next to the bus station, said traffic jams until the Sirsi Circle flyover (about two kilometres away) had become an everyday affair.

Illegal parking

The situation is worsened by the illegal parking of private buses, auto-rickshaws and cabs in front of the bus station. It gets really bad at weekends and during holidays, he added.

Samarth, a resident of Deepanjali Nagar, says proper traffic management could address the problem.

“The available space is too narrow for such a huge volume of traffic. Traffic police must clear the vehicles quickly,” he said.

An engineer supervising the roadwork said the project would take at least three months to complete. The Byatarayanapura police traffic inspector could not be reached for comment.