Separate lanes for Palace Grounds planned to decongest Ballari Road

With the state government rejecting the plan to acquire 15 acres and 39 guntas of Bangalore Palace land to widen Ballari and Jayamahal roads, the BBMP has decided to draw up a revised design to decongest the stretch in front of Palace Grounds.

The plan includes providing separate access to Palace Grounds via a dedicated lane as well as a different exit. These facilities, which do not directly help the general public, are expected to be built on land belonging to the erstwhile royal family by taking their consent.

BBMP sources said a transportation plan to provide entry and exit to Palace Grounds was being prepared so that traffic heading to the ground does not hinder vehicular movement on Ballari Road.

Also Read: Govt not to acquire Palace Grounds land for road widening

The plan is being conceptualised on the lines of Orion Mall, which has a separate waiting line for vehicles heading to the popular commercial establishment.

“More than six weddings or get-togethers are held at a time in Palace Grounds. The venue does not have a separate entry or exit for vehicles that are waiting to park inside the ground. This creates a bottleneck on Ballari Road,” a senior BBMP official said. “It is possible to provide a dedicated entry lane on Ballari Road with an exit on Jayamahal Road or the Vasanthnagar gate.”

The plan may remove about 58 of the 172 trees situated in front of Palace Grounds.

Feasibility report

Separately, the BBMP is preparing a feasibility report to decongest the stretch between BDA Junction and Mehkri Circle.

Currently, four bottlenecks exist on Ballari Road, a major link to the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). Vehicles are mostly seen stuck near Windsor Manor Circle, on the flyover near the BDA head office, outside Cauvery Theatre and at Mehkri Circle (vehicles heading towards TV Tower from Hebbal).

A plan to build a steel flyover between Basaveshwara Circle and Hebbal was scrapped after widespread protests in 2019.

While the BBMP has proposed a similar plan to decongest the stretch, Namma Metro’s Phase 3B line (Sarjapur Road-Hebbal) is proposed to pass through this stretch, but it is still in the design stage.