Thanks to the Bengaluru Traffic Police cops head constable V Lokesh, sub-inspector L Sreekantaiah and assistant sub-inspector H Nanjudaiah,
''...It’s been over a fortnight now since traffic along the chaotic railway overbridge (RoB) at Banaswadi has been moving seamlessly, even during peak hours. The stretch, which once took 15 minutes to cross, now takes just a minute or more. So who waved a magic wand here?
There have been no road-widening projects or elaborate planning. It was just a simple idea which freed one crucial junction of the bumper-to-bumper malaise on this bridge, which has no traffic signals.
Mukunda junction on the bridge — the intersection of three paths towards Kammanahalli, Byappanahalli and Banaswadi — was a bottleneck for a long time.
Simple, intelligent fix
They came up with a simple plan of manually managing the traffic during peak hours — 9-10.30 am and 6-8 pm. That includes using just simple hand signals and being on the ground. The cop here stops traffic coming from Byappanahalli for a while and lets vehicles from Banaswadi junction proceed towards Frazer Town, says Lokesh, who conceived the idea...."
For more read here http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Cops-put-brakes-on-peak-hour-jam/articleshow/6268756.cms
Courtesy - Time Of India.
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Some details
Whenever I go over this ROB, I wonder whether this is complete. The cops have to direct traffic as in the above report itself indicates there is something wrong with that bridge. This occurs because the vehicles from Bypanahalli going to Banswadi and Kalayan Nagar have to take a U-turn at the bottom of the bridge to access it; holding up the traffic from ITC side. The buses from Bypanahalli like MBS 8 cannot take that U-turn. They continue forward about half a kilometer ( dont know the name of the place) where the side road is wide enough to take reverse the direction, again blocking some traffic. Same way vehicles coming from ITC side cannot turn to the Bypanahalli road over the overbridge because right turn is banned on the bridge. Actually, I dont know how that is done or if anyone does that.
The road from OMR can be used as an alternative road to reach MG road if there is another overbridge at Bypanahalli and if vehicles can turn right at Mukunda junction (as everyone knows). Actually both Kalyan Nagar road and Banswadi road were two-way roads before this overbridge was built if i remember right. Now Kalyan Nagar road is one-way that is you cannot enter the bridge coming from the Kalyan nagar-Kammanhalli side.
I just wrote what I have seen, dont know the reasons or constraints leading to this. Even if the bridge does not meet expectation, Police is doing good job.
New solution to traffic
New solution to traffic problem at Sevanagar has been found! The buses from Bypanahalli crossing the ROB at Mukunda has been redirected through Jeevanhalli, around ITC, East station, then through Banswadi road back to Mukunda flyover. Not only that they have increased the charge from Rs. 8 to 11. Now those who want to go from Bypanahalli to Kalyan Nagar by 412 to MBS 8 not only have to sit in the bus for at least 20 minutes extra, and they also have to pay Rs. 3 extra. Great reward for unquestioned obedience. This will certainly make the autos running between OMR and Indian oil because there are no buses competing with them and car owners will be happy.
First, the flyover was constructed with so many compromises because of reluctance to acquire land. This reduced two roads with two way traffic to one, and no way from the Bypanahalli road to enter the overbridge without taking U-turn at the bottom of the bridge. That made it almost useless to build a flyover at Bypanahalli, and now this. Additionally, the reason why there is no flyover at Bypanahalli may have to do something with the trailers coming to the goods shed.
a rough map
The length of the old route
The length of the old route of MBS 8 was 2.5 km.
The length of the new route 9.5 km. (By Google maps).
The cars and autos and trucks can take the Bypanahalli level cross but not buses. This is bad treatment to public transport. Wastage of time, money, and fuel.
Buses coming from Bypanahalli cannot take the U-turn under Mukunda flyover so route change mayy be justifiiable. But whatabout buses going towards Bypanahalli from Banswadi road. There is a clear path, ramp for vehicles from Banswadi road to go to Bypanahalli.