New solutions in the offing to reduce wait at traffic signals

“Reduce the waiting period at Silk Board junction traffic signal light from 20 minutes to 10 minutes.” This is the latest directive given by Home Minister G Parameshwara to the traffic police in the City.

Terming the Central Silk Board area as the “toughest” challenge when it comes to managing traffic, G Parameshwara on Wednesday said, “I don’t know how the department is going to manage it, but I have directed the officials to work out a feasible plan,” he said. He was interacting with the media in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

When contacted, M A Saleem, Additional Commissioner of Police, Traffic, said that his department was still working out a plan to address the problem.

He said that commuters coming from HSR Layout towards Silk Board are the worst hit — they have to wait for 20 minutes at any time of the day at the signal, irrespective of peak or non-peak hours. Commuters travelling from BTM Layout towards Silk Board, however, spend relatively lesser time at the junction.

“As it is a signal-free corridor from Marathahalli junction, the entire volume of traffic gets stuck at the Silk Board junction, which turns into a bottle neck. The problem isn’t as serious for commuters coming from the opposite direction,” he added.

Stating that it should be a collective effort of all civic agencies concerned to come up with workable solutions, Saleem said that his department could only provide temporary reprieve in the 11 problem areas, including Silk Board, Hebbal, MES Railway Gate, Outer Ring Road from KR Puram to Iblur, Marathahalli, NGF Byappanahalli, Hudson Circle and Dairy Circle.

The department is chalking out measures to reduce the waiting period at other junctions like Graphite India junction, Whitefield (Big Bazaar junction), and CMTI junction on Tumakuru road, where the waiting period for commuters to cross a traffic signal junction is anywhere between 10 to 15 minutes during peak hours.

Road widening

Parameshwara said that talks have been initiated to either widen or install an elevated road from Hebbal junction to Chinnaswamy stadium. He said like the Silk Board junction, the entire volume of traffic coming from the International Airport would suffer the gridlock at Hebbal junction.

Multilevel parking

Parameshwara also said that the BBMP was thinking of setting up multilevel parking facilities in three locations in the Central Business District area. One such facility would come up near the Congress party office, he added. However, he did not mention whether it was on Queen’s Road or near Anand Rao Circle.