Bengaluru's Old Madras Road chokes as GBA drags its feet on flyover plan

Bengaluru: On Old Madras Road, commuters are trapped in a daily ritual of frustration. Vehicles crawl bumper-to-bumper, tempers fray, and what should be a smooth ride across four signals between KR Puram and Halasuru takes close to an hour if not more.

While the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) has shown little urgency in fast-tracking the long-pending flyover project, it is spending money on what residents call “unnecessary” works along the same stretch.

Prominent among them is the replacement of cobblestones on footpaths that were already in good condition. Another is the redesign of the traffic island at Suranjadas Road Junction, which appears no different from the earlier one.

Residents have questioned the prioritisation of funds.

Old Madras Road is a key arterial route connecting the city to Whitefield and beyond. During peak hours, stretches near major junctions such as Baiyappanahalli, Indiranagar BDA Complex, and Halasuru turn into chokepoints.

Commuters say the delay in addressing traffic congestion has only compounded the problem over the years. “I spend more time at these three signals than on the rest of the commute,” said a daily office-goer, who works at a large firm in Halasuru. “It’s frustrating to see unnecessary works being prioritised.”

Earlier, Old Madras Road was part of the government’s plan to build an East-West elevated corridor linking KR Puram and Yeshwantpur.

After the proposal was shelved, the civic body laid a foundation stone in mid-2018 for the construction of an underpass at Suranjadas Road Junction. The proposal was later dropped, with Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar reviving the earlier plan of building an elevated corridor.

A senior official of Bengaluru Smart Infrastructure Ltd (B-SMILE) said the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the elevated corridor is ready. “Once the state cabinet clears the proposal, we will float tenders,” he said.

Sources in the GBA told DH that considerable time and money were being “wasted” on DPRs and consultants. “The DPR of the East-West elevated corridor passing through Old Madras Road was already ready. There was no need to pay private consultants for the same work. The government has wasted two years,” a source said.

‘DULT must first vet flyover design’

Independent mobility consultant Satya Arikutharam said that while a flyover can theoretically add capacity, the proposal must be robust enough to ensure congestion is not merely shifted from one point to another.

“More often than not, flyovers transfer the problem to the next intersection, and civic authorities wrongly believe another flyover there will solve the congestion.”

He urged the government to ensure Bengaluru Smart Infrastructure Ltd (B-SMILE) shares the plan with the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) for verification through traffic modelling to assess whether the added capacity would improve overall network efficiency.