Murali & Myself attended this months meeting. 2 Points emerged.
First was that the traffic police will get some monies from GoK to apply short term fixes to the city which can show visible improvements over the next 6 months. This could be tweaks to junctions to streets to anything that is not a huge civil works project involving large construcions like flyovers etc needing DPR's to execute. Citzens are expected to make specific suggestions with named places & include detailed suggestions like drawings designs etc. Next saturday will be a meeting which will take up these suggestions & put them to action. Calling on all Praja people to put in their suggestions now as comments to this thread
Two, traffic police are interested in enforcing lane discipline & want to know some innovative way of drilling in unselfishness & discipline in the people.
Forward this Blog entry
Comments
Recommendations
On the congestion improvement my suggestions are the following
1. Bible society junction redesign
2. Mantri mall Traffic improvement plan
Along with this I recommend the placement of direction signboards as per MUTCD standards given here since IRC 67 does not mention where on the road the signboards must be placed. Perception response time (PRT) needs to be considered before placing such signs.
For lane discipline following are the steps
1. Paint consistent lanewidths regardless of wether it is 3.75m or 3.3m
2. Allocate any extra space not fittign into the lanes to pedestrians or hatch it off with physical barriers so it is not usable to vehicular traffic.
3. We need to structure & roll out the DDC program in a better way so information can reach more people.
Each of you should identify a stretch in your area & provide solutions so it can be forwarded to Mr Saleems office.
Theme abstraction
Abstracting the above solutions to a generic theme I would say intersection spacing is the root of these problems. Due to the amount of traffic going in & out, a mall/business park driveway shuld also be treated like a turn & not a low volume driveway. In both the case of Mantri mall & Bible society merge the weaving to the extreme corner over a short distance is the cuse of the holdup. I can identify the 11th cross sankey lake east road to the new BEL road CV raman road junction as another such problem fitting in this theme.
In case of this junction the small red markers denote the closed roads. The traffic should merge into CV raman road at either one of the Big blue marked roads depending on the size of the backup at peak hours. Farther the better.
This access management paper (table 1 specfically) has good detailing on intersection spacing. Hence it follows that if you take an arterial divided road in your neighbourhood which has a speed limit between 40 & 60 kmph. You could identify roads which joind at lesser than 400 meters from a right turn either into another street or into a high volume driveway. The solution will more or less fall into the following 2.
1. Seal the road or driveway to prevent traffic from entering the road. Bollards can be used to allow pedestrians & cyclists to use the intersection & prevent only motor vehicles.
2. Put in a hard divider running along the outermost lane lane preventing the cross over to an inside lane for the turn, the traffic will skip the immediate junctions & take the turn at the next junction or make a U turn & come back to the skipped junction/driveway
In case of the Bible society & Mantri Mall the second solution has been chosen because the traffic will need to anyway flow usefully forward without weaving & merging. In case of the New BEL road junction option 1 can be used. SO pick your problem junction & see whether you want to recommend option1 or option 2
CIL and J C Nagar Junctions on Jaymahal Rd!
My 2 suggestions for Jaymahal Road would be:
1. CIL Junction
2. J C Nagar Main Rd
View J C Nagar Main Rd Junction in a larger map
Suggestions/Demand
1. These junctions need Magic Boxes for Right Turns from both CIL and JC Nagar Main Rd to Jaymahal Rd and Vice-Versa.
2. Provision for Pedesterian Crossings at both junctions.
Fits the pattern
I think JC Nagar main rd junction fits the intersection spacing pattern. I would think option 2 of allowing only straight movement from there towards cantt or Nandidurg road is feasible. That junction has a small roundabout where waiting traffic chokes the nearby intersection during peak hours
Vehicles going towards Mekhri circle would have to take right at CIL road juction from one of the internal roads behind the TV station. Vehicles coming from cantt or Nandidurg rd going to Jayamahal will have to take U turn at CIL junction. CIL jn will need some fixing to alow this as the road width now is too small for a U turn(for now take a right & go into the layout from behind the TV station. Land for widening has been acquired already, post widening it will need a dedicated turn lane or an underpass like you have suggested.
Cantonment Station circle.
For fear of sounding like a broken record - I wont repeat the reasons why I think most of Malleswaram's traffic problems can be solved by reversing the directions of Sampige Road and Margosa and making all small cross roads in Mwm and Vayallikaval one way in a logical manner.
Nevertheless, one junction which is crying out loud to be fixed is the junction near Cant Station. Its completely ridiculous ! If you want to travel from M.V. Jayaram road on to Millers Road through the railway underbridge you run the risk of getting rammed on the side from two different directions with no alternatives - and perhaps getting rammed in front by a two wheeler who decides its not worth his while to drive an extra 500mts. And you run the risk of hitting pedestrians who are trying to cross over to Cant Station or Millers road - or just trying to get on to the bus which might stop illegally in the middle of the junction. Something needs to be done about this.
The simple solution is to introduce a roundabout. And to utilize two of the underpasses which are not being used.
U-turns at junctions
One driving mistake that I see an amazing number of people make, mainly because of lack of awareness, is on U-Turns at junctions.
Correct me if I am wrong below.
At any junction, you should make an U-Turn only when the right turn signal is green. Otherwise you would block oncoming traffic. At junctions where Right-Turn is prohibited, you cannot and should not take U-Turns as invariably you will be blocking oncoming traffic.
But I see that this rule is violated even by people, who are otherwise traffic-sense conscious, because of lack of awareness.
Kadubisanahalli underpass construction And BWSSB work
The flyover construction at Bellandur ORR, near the new bangalore central and the underpass construction at Kadubisanahalli , has been completed on one side each.
I was expecting some respite to the traffic blocks on Outer ring road with these two opening. Although construction is going on, on the opp side for all the three flyovers/underpass from Sarjapur Signal to Marathahalli on ORR, the traffic could be streamlined after opening of the two sites, except for the BSWWB work that is going on.
One lane on the main road, near the Kadubisanahalli Underpass, is still reserved for the traffic from Marathahalli to Sarjapur Direction, to give connectivity to the Panattur Area. If the service lane here, which is now dug up for the BWSSB work can be made usable, it can provide the required connectivity between ORR and Panattur, and the lane on the main road can be made available for the traffic in the opposite direction. This would help a lot in reducing the congestion here.
I have seen that although the BWSSB work has been happening on this stretch for a long time, It was ensured that the critical Sections of the road was remade as soon as the work was over. Examples are at Sarjapur Signal, Opp Bangalore Central etc.
Wonder why the same is not done in the Kadubisanahalli Stretch now, given that this stretch is becoming a huge bottleneck on ORR.
Proposed Solutions for CIL / J C Nagar Rd Junctions
Here is the solutions proposed for CIL Rd and J C Nagar Junctions.
Does anyone have updates
Does anyone have updates regarding the ORR flyovers / underpasses?
According to a Jan 2012 RTI, everything is on track as reported by citizen matters..
http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/blogs/show_entry/3756--all-is-well-with-grade-separator-projects-says-bda
From the beginning of August the gradeseparators near Intel and Bellandur looks almost complete. Even the street lights are fixed. Some part of it was asphalted about a month back! It seems it is not open yet, due to some small items pending. And it remains so for months together!
In case anyone has updates please post it here. Is there a chance of taking this up in the TAC again/
ORR overpass/underpass
Seems to be some sort of exercise in creeping towards completion. They should be able to get these ready in 2 weeks (at least the two flyovers), but they seem to be having some kind of slow down protest.
The Kadubisanahalli underpass
The Kadubisanahalli underpass opened today. Some minor work, and the road surface seems to be pending.. But, it was open to traffic..
Wonder why the flyovers, which started construction atleast one year in advance of the underpass is still not done!
U-turns on ORR
The flyover constructions on Outer ring road between Silkboard to KRpuram (/Hebbal? ) was completed a few months back. Even after the completion of the flyovers, the many u-turns on the outer ring road remain. Sometimes, the median is broken less than 100m away from the flyover to enable a u-turn on Outer Ring Road, which defies the logic of having the flyover itself.
Examples of such U-turns include the one in front of JP Morgan / Prestige tech Park near Kadubisanahalli, and the one between EMC2 and Durga Rainbow.
I believe that the u-turns on ORR atleast 500m to 1km on either side of teh flyovers/underpasses should be closed, and within that distance, vehicles should take the u-turn under the flyover or over the underpass, such as not to obstruct the traffic on ORR. Otherwise the investment in those flyovers are wasted to a great extend.
And before you insist on vehicles taking u-turn under a flyover, the service roads near the flyover should be repaired, so that the heavy vehicles get a larger radius to complete the turn. The service roads are not repaired on most flyovers on this stretch.
Murali Sir, Will you be able to represent these in the TAC meeting?
Road below the flyover for motorists and pedestrians footpath
Starting from the Agara flyover, to iblur flyover to all the other flyovers on the ORR, one major thing being neglected is - ROAD BELOW THE FLYOVER.
The road or service road or pedestrian space, everything is even worse than before and not at all fixed. Agar flyover has been complete from a long time, but nothing is being done below the flyover. Motorists coming from koramangala, have to ride/drive on those non-existent road (sometimes someone put some stones there to fill those potholes), otherwise its risky to drive there.
Pedestrians footpath are totally negleced, there is space, there is half constructed, but many of the slabs are broken, not replaced and a few places, not at all constructed.
I am sure, BDA must have given the completion status to both of Agra and iblur flyovers and other flyovers, inspite of lot of work incomplete there specifically road below the flyover and pedestrian footpaths.
Deepak
U-Turns on ORR is a major mess, Image on road below Delhi Metro
@AnithaSunil, you are right. First of all, the design of the flyovers infront of intel (Bellandur) itself is poor. Why to climb up and get down twice. The opening near Pratham Motors / Eco space leads to lots of confusion slowing down the traffic and sometimes accidents.
Second is heavy vehicles like buses and trucks struggle to climb up hill. Now it has to do twice. Instead of two flyovers, they could have made single long flyover.
Second is crazy 'U' turns, one that is in front of J P Morgan is very crazy. 100 metres, we have a newly built underpass, why not above that. What is the use of this underpass then? Just money making business?
Btw, I saw a photo of Delhi Metro station. Road below it is so neatly done unlike our Bangalore: