Daily nightmare near Bengaluru's Challaghatta metro station to end soon

Navigating the bustling Bengaluru-Mysuru access-controlled highway at Challaghatta has long been a formidable challenge for pedestrians. The daily struggle of crossing this high-traffic corridor has been a persistent concern for students, residents, and commuters. However, a promising development is on the horizon, as the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) join forces to create a pedestrian crossing facility near the Challaghata metro station.

The problem is particularly acute for the students of Sri Guna Kendra Vidyalaya School, run by Vishwa Vokkaligara Mahasamsthana Matha. The school is located 750 metres from the Challaghatta metro station, across the road. The evening peak hour (5.30 pm to 6.30 pm) is particularly hard. Pedestrians say crossing the road sometimes takes as long as 10-15 minutes. 

Aishwarya, a first-year MBBS student at RR Medical College and a native of Gubbi taluk, Tumakuru, says she has no option but to risk crossing the busy road due to logistical reasons. 

Aishwarya walks through the pedestrian underpass near her college and then takes a bus to the Matha junction. While she doesn’t have to walk for a kilometre, she still has to cross the road again to reach her PG. “Road crossing here is a real pain and I am scared of potential accidents,” she said. 

Kaveri, a Kumbalagodu resident whose child studies at the Sri Guna School, said road crossing was difficult, especially for schoolchildren. 

A policeman posted near the school said weekends were “pretty bad” as families travelled out of the city. Despite police presence, traffic congestion is hard to control during the peak hours, he added. 

Most cars take the service road and join the expressway later, near Bidadi, thanks to an opening there. So the traffic near the Matha includes vehicles plying on both the service road and the expressway, he said. 

Some citizens feel a possible solution could be to separate the two roads before the expressway begins. Others bat for a skywalk before the expressway begins. 

Metro users are also inconvenienced. While they can take the pedestrian underpass below the expressway, they still have to cross the service road. The only solace is that traffic density here is lower than that at the beginning of the expressway. 

Even though the Challaghatta metro station opened more than four months ago, one of its entry/exit points remains closed. A home guard attributed it to the ongoing works related to the upcoming metro depot, which will go on for five more months. The gate will be opened afterwards, he said. 

BMRCL Chief Public Relations Officer B L Yashavanth Chavan cited “technical challenges” in constructing the skywalk and said “a lot of coordination” with other agencies was required. 

“We are working with the relevant authorities to find a solution. We need to see where we can build the skywalk or have a similar traffic intervention,” he said. 

Vilas P Brahmankar, the NHAI’s Bengaluru Regional Officer, acknowledged that the opening of the service road had created “a choking point”. “Some vehicle users take the service road to avoid paying the toll, causing traffic snarl,” he said. 

Rahul Gupta, the NHAI’s Mysuru Project Director, said the BMRCL had submitted a proposal on creating a pedestrian crossing facility at Challaghatta and that they were examining its technical feasibility. “Some options have been discussed, and we will decide within a week,” he said. 

Any pedestrian crossing facility will have to be funded and constructed by the BMRCL, he added. 

Due to a lack of foot-overbridge pedestrians risk crossing the busy Bengaluru-Mysuru highway near Challaghatta Metro Station in Bengaluru on Saturday December 30 2023. DH PHOTO/PUSHKAR V

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Vilas P Brahmankar
Bengaluru Regional Officer NHAI

“Some vehicle users take the service road to avoid paying the toll causing traffic snarl.