The ongoing work to replace a faulty expansion on the Sirsi Circle flyover, between Mysore Road and Town Hall, has resulted in huge traffic jams on the adjoining roads. Due to the ongoing repair work, motorists have been forced to take the left down ramp to reach Town Hall via S P Road.

The repair work undertaken by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) 10 days ago is being executed by Sanfield India Limited.

Besides causing inconvenience to motorists coming from Mysore Road to Town Hall, it is leading to traffic snarls on the adjacent roads such as S P Road and Avenue Road. 

Autorickshaw driver, Muthuram, who used to take the Mysore Road-Town Hall route regularly, said that ever since the blockage, he has been forced take the lane connecting the S P Road that is usually congested.

Around eight to 10 traffic wardens and police inspectors from City Market police station have been deployed in the area to regulate vehicular and pedestrian movement.

City Market Police Inspector P Keshava Reddy said: “Earlier, S P Road junction wasn’t teeming with that much of traffic. But, after the flyover was closed for repair, there is chaos on this lane affecting both commuters and pedestrians. During the peak hours, from 4 pm to 7 pm, pedestrians find it really difficult to cross the lane and go towards the K R Market bus terminal.”

Falling apart

The expansion joints on 2.5 km-long Sirsi Circle flyover were falling apart, forcing the BBMP in March 2012 to take up the work on repairing a total of 14 faulty expansion joints. According to BBMP sources, only eight joints have been fixed till now.
The total cost of the project is estimated to be Rs 2. 65 crore.

A senior BBMP official, on condition of anonymity, said the work on replacing the expansion joints on Sirsi Circle flyover started only in December, 2012.

Brainstorming sessions

“We took up the work after many brainstorming sessions with engineers and, also the tender process took a lot of time. As the safety of the structure was our priority, we had to select the company which could carry out the repairs perfectly. Sanfield Limited that has already carried out such works in New Delhi was given the contract,” he said. The repair work would end in two days.