Mysore-B'lore: Construct flyovers not lay six lanes, says MGP

The government’s proposal to upgrade the Mysore-Bangalore highway into six lanes has drawn flak from the Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP), which argues that only fly-overs will help decongest bottlenecks.

R Chandra Prakash, president of the MGP, said, it is a known fact that despite upgradation of this highway into four lanes, now the travel time between Mysore to Bangalore is higher than what it used to be five years ago.

“The worst affected are air-travellers from Mysore, trying to reach Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). Shifting of the airport to Devanahalli has put Mysoreans into deeper crisis.

High density traffic

Apart from the journey to Bangalore consuming more time, one has to either wade through the high-density traffic in central Bangalore or use NICE Road from Kengeri to Tumkur Road to reach the Hebbal flyover enroute to KIA.

He said: “It requires a minimum of five hours to reach KIA. But, if one were to take a flight to Mumbai, it takes just about one and a half hour. However, the recent completion of a few flyovers after Hebbal has given some relief”.

Mysore is an important heritage centre, and hence, the road link with the Silicon City is of importance from the economics point of view.

This highway is also an important link between two states — Tamil Nadu (Nilgiri Hills) and Kerala (Calicut and Cochin).

Reasons

Prakash said, there are several reasons as to why upgradation into six lanes will not be of much use to Mysoreans. “Firstly, every bypass on this highway has been encroached upon by commercial establishments, which forces the vehicles to slow down.

For example: the present road through Mandya and Maddur were also bypass roads, not long ago,” he pointed out.

“There are more than 70 unscientific humps between Mysore and Bangalore and a higher number of them on the return journey route.

Humps

If at all, humps are necessary, they should have been put on the crossroads, joining the highway, to avoid sudden entry of vehicles into the highway.

It is not rare to find two-wheelers, tractors, autorickwshaws, etc moving from the opposite side, along the left side of the highway, instead of going to the other side of median,” he said.

He said, another reason is the inadequacy of the number of trains (in comparison with the demand), which has increased the number of buses between Mysore and Bangalore, which hinders smooth flow of other vehicles.