I sent the following letter to several people - Sood, Rajiv Chandrashekhar, Subramanian etc. in the hope of getting some feedback. I just thought I would send it to Praja as well since this topic is being discussed and would appreciate any feedback.
I think a lot of the problems of traffic in Bangalore is due to severe mismanagement. I've sort of thought about this and come up with the following proposal which I think would greatly improve the traffic flow in Malleswaram and perhaps as a result improve the quality of life of the residents there. I am writing about Malleswaram as I live there, am familiar with the traffic and have spent time observing the situation.
I feel that similar proposals can be made for all areas by carefully studying the flow of traffic there and involving some of the residents.
The underlying principle I have used is that one should try to minimize the crossing of traffic going in opposite directions as that is what causes jams. I would appreciate and comments or feedback you might have - one advantage of this proposal is that it is completely reverseable - so it can be tested and accepted or rejected without much expenditure.
The first point to observe is that essentially most traffic in Malleswaram is going through Malleswaram - either from Yeswantpur to the City or vice versa, or from Rajajinagar to the city and vice versa.
There are several points where the traffic gets jammed.
- Mariyamma Circle ( C.V. Raman Circle )
- 18th Cross and Margosa Road
- 18th Cross and 8th Main. ( in the mornings )
- Various points along Sampige Road and Margosa Road.
My primary suggestion is simple - reverse the current direction of Sampige Road and Margosa Road, and make Margosa one way all the way to Mariyamma circle. The benefits are the following.
- This provides a straight unobstructed road from Yeswantpur Circle to Majestic. Currently the traffic has to circle 3/4 of Mariyamma circle and turn on to Margosa to go to Majestic. Also, traffic from Majestic has to go the `wrong way' on the side of the underbridge to come to Malleswaram, finally switching sides once more.
- As things stand, the bus stand at 18th cross is on the wrong side of the road. If the road is made one way, this problem will be solved. Further, one can create a free left from 18th Cross towards Yeshwantpur which would benefit a lot of people much of the local traffic in Malleswaram is towards IISc. I've noticed that as things stand busses cross 18th cross on Margosa road, coming out the bus stand and completely blocking traffic for the entire extent of a signal. This seems really silly to me.
- Once again, there will be no crossing at Mariyamma circle.
- Traffic coming from Sankey Tank in to Malleswaram can immediately turn on to Sampige instead of coming up and turning on Margosa. This would lessen the burden on the stretch between Margosa and Sampige on 18th Cross.
- Traffic coming from Sankey Tank bridge towards Yeswantpur will be forced to take a left - but this would ease the current jam that occurs at 18th Cross and Sankey bridge.
- A proper bus stand can be developed at 18th Cross and Sampige Road.
- There is a new mall ( Mantri Greens ) which will cause a lot of traffic at 1st Cross and Sampige. If the direction is reversed this traffic can be made to flow OUT rather than IN to Malleswaram. Also, the area near the Rajiv Gandhi statue will be cleared and can be developed for parking.
- Traffic coming from Shivananda circle will have a free left and can once more turn left and then right on to Seshadripuram Link Road ( the current direction of that will also have to be reversed. ) This prevents the intersection of traffic that junction as well.
- Within Malleswaram a lot of lanes should be made one way with parking only on one side. Certain arterial roads like 15th Cross and 9th Cross should be both ways, but the rest should be made one way. Access to Sampige and Margosa should be restricted. This would improve the flow of traffic and traffic lights could be installed at the major junctions.
- The region around 8th Cross between Margosa and Sampige and between 10th cross and 7th cross should be closed to traffic and pedestrianized. People like to walk there and it would be so much more pleasant if there were no vehicles one had to look out for. As things stand, its bad both for vehicles and people. Access should be allowed till 11 am for deliveries to the stores. and perhaps after 10pm as well. Parking can be made on 9th Cross if necessary.
- I noticed that in the last couple of days there have been some new signs added under the B-TRAC proposal. While in general this is good, I have the following comment about one particular one. There is a `STOP' sign on 17th Cross at 4th Main. However, 17th Cross is a much more heavily trafficked road than 4th main, so perhaps the STOP sign should be on 4th Main instead. In fact, 9th, 15th, 17th and 18th cross are much more heavily trafficked than the most of the main roads, apart from Margosa and Sampige, so there too stop signs should be placed on the main road rather than the cross road.
- On an related note I should also mention that I feel that they can do one more thing to improve the flow of traffic at Shivananda Circle. Traffic coming from Race Course Road shoudl be made to take the SECOND LEFT on to Kumarakrupa Road and it should be a Hare Krishna Road shoud be made ONE WAY between Shivananda Circle and Race Course road. This woudl prevent a lot of traffic build up at Shivananda Circle and in fact make it possible to not even have a signal there. As things stand the road is narrow, trees are being cut and two-wheelers routinely go on to the wrong side of the road
Forward this Blog entry
Comments
Ammani College Road
I had the same idea sometime back to make Margosa Road facing Ammani College and Kendriya Vidyalaya School a one way instead of the two way that it is now.
The few units that use Margosa Road to approach Maramma Circle can go straigth on 17th cross and take a left at the CET Cell towards Maramma Circle.
Majority of the traffic comes from Maramma Circle on Margosa Road. So having a one way there will greatly ease the flow of traffic.
Sometime back, they made 17th Cross (the HDFC Bank road) a one way. This helped a lot in not creating traffic jams. The new dividers on 17th cross as well as the ones on the Malleswaram Entrance of Sankey Tank have helped regulate the flow of traffic.
It is better to approach Shri Dr C N Ashwath Narayan instead of Rajeev Chandrashekar. Dr CNAN is more a micro level man and can better manage Malleswaram. To his credit, he did tar important roads like 8th Cross and Sampige Roads.
Platform Road, Sampige Theatre Junction
Platform Road clearly needs a divider. The signal at Sampige Junction should be removed and Mill Corner Road (to the left of Mantri Greens) should be made a oneway for traffic coming on Sampige Road and taking only a left on Mill Corner Road.
The above iniative itself would clearly relieve the jam at Sampige Theatre Junction.
8th Cross cannot be pedestrianised. It is a crucial exit from Malleswaram and towards Guthalli and thence to Bellary Road and Vasanthnagar et al.
It takes political will to clear hawkers from 8th cross, but that needs to be done. Instead of 8th Cross, East Park Road and West Park Roads can be made into Hawker / Vendor Zones. 9th Cross (behind Ganesha Temple) can be made a Hawker's Zone as well.
Signals are needed at 11th Cross, 10th Cross junctions with Sampige Road and Margosa Road. Even 15th Cross needs a signal and a small median.
Reversal of one way directions.
An important facet of my plan is reversing the current directions of Sampige and Margosa. By doing so your problem of 8th Cross being essential is no longer an issue as I only recommend closing 8th Cross between Margosa and Sampige. Vehicles could then travel on Sampige road and turn left on to 8th main. Traffic coming from Malleswaram can go down 11th or 13th or 15th Cross, take a right on to Sampige and another left on to 8th cross to exit Malleswaram.
If they do improve 11th main which becomes Mill Corner Road than that would provide another bypass from Rajajinagar to the city for traffic coming on 17th Cross. By the way, I suppose your comments earlier refered to 18th Cross and not 17th Cross.
My point about reversing the current directions of Sampige and Margosa is, apart from the fact that traffic coming form Yeswantpur does not have to intersect with traffic in the opposite direction at Maramma circle, traffic going towards IISc will have a free left turn at what is now 18th Cross bus stand. Further, as things stand the bus stand is on the wrong side of the road - so buses have to cross the road to get in.
As you say, though, even if they dont do this they should make Margosa one way all the way from Maramma circle towards 18th Cross. It has taken me 10 minutes to cross this small segment on a bicycle !
- Ramesh
rs, can you show this on a map!
rs,
Could you pls post some maps to show the changes you are proposing? Post both current map as well as propsed change map.
Even though I am very well acquinted with Mallewaran vicinity (having spent evenings on 8th cross etc), I didn't get some your suggestions? May be things have changed in past 10 yrs. In my last trip to India in 2006, I found Malleswaram to be less congested than other parts of B'lore. May be a coincidence. Actually I took a bus from Shivaji Nagar to reach Malleswaram.
Looking forward to some visual aid?
Syed
Reversing flows not wise / practical
Sampige Road has one way traffic originating right from the City Railway Station plus Majestic till CET Cell and thence on towards Tumkur Road / IISc Circle et al.
It is a crucial artery between the City Centre and Tumkur Road and suddenly reversing it for traffic is not wise. Closing down 8th Cross will lead to utter chaos. 8th Cross (not Main) is a crucial exit into Guthalli as i had explained.
But converting the entire strech of Margosa Road from HDFC Bank Junction till Circle Maramma temple is a wise desicion as it will lead to less congestion on that strech of Margosa Road.
Converting the left corner into Mill Corner Road (which merges into 11th Main) is essential for clearing the jam at the Mantri Greens junction.
Then again, it requires disciplining of traffic on Platform Road and on Subedar Chatram Road by placing appropriate dividers and medians.
Sampige Road etc.
There is no question that any such change will cause some chaos initially, but in the long run it will be a lot better.
I made is mistake in my last email - I meant turn left from Sampige Road on to 8th cross and not 8th main. ( I suppose its essentially impossible to turn on to 8th Main from Sampige ;) ) Closing down 8th Cross between Margosa and Sampige will not cause any problems as far as vehicular traffic is concerned. It will just make it a lot more pleasant to walk in that area.
The point is that traffic ( buses etc ) which coming from Yeswantpur on Margosa road turn on 8th Cross to go towards Guttahalli etc. If Sampige road is reversed then they would be coming on that so they wont have to cross the shopping area of 8th Cross.
Finally, reversing the direction of Sampige road will also allow one to use 11th main - Mill corner road as a possible exit from Malleswaram.
Anyway, I will try and draw a map illustrating what I mean
Ramesh
A map
Here is a Google map of the proposed changes.
I hope it works.
View Malleswaram Fix in a larger map
rs, how is current traffic flow!
Ramesh,
Thanks for the proposed map. Now it becomes clear what you are suggesting. Can you mark the current traffic flow map?
Regards,
Syed
Current traffic Flow
As things stand Sampige road flows from the city towards Yeshwantpur and Margosa is the opposite. So they cross at Maramma ( = C.V> Raman Circle ) circle ( except that the stretch between C.V. Raman and 18th cross is 2 way which causes no end of problems.
The bad intersections are Maramma Circle, 18th Cross and the area at the beginning of Yeswantpur ( Nagappa Road and Platform Road junction ). And there is a weird bit as you come from the station where you drive on the wrong side of the road. All that can be avoided.
Ramesh
Good Suggestion, But...
Ramesh,
May be this is a good suggestion. I cannot confidently say that this will not create new bottleneck intersections, since I am not very aware of all these roads and the traffic densities and patterns at different times of the day.
What I see is lacking in this post is how this will affect public transport. I am interested to see how this affects the buses(and of course passengers) coming to 18th Cross bus stop. May be you could analyse for groups of buses - terminating at or passing through 18th Cross; Another grouping can be in terms of directions (ie. towards Rajajingr, Majestic, Yeswantpur, Sankey Road etc )
I am not very sure if the capacity of Sampige Road and Margosa Road are the same. But I would love you to introduce the impact of Metro construction and possible alternatives on this regard. This sort of a 'complete reversal' creates lots of confusion during the transistion. Since Metro construction will take 2-3 years, a complete overhaul of traffic patterns will be necessary. To me, only that will be a good reason for any temporary confusion.
-Srivatsava
PS: The map was good. It was the first time I saw a map with lines of different colour. Now, you will see me using the tool for a few similar posts for Hanumanthanagar areas!!
-Srivatsava V
Good suggestion
Buses going to KR market (from malleswaram side)which take a left turn at AnandRao circle will not be able to do a similar left as per the plan you have suggested. If that problem can be solved this will be a great plan to reduce unnescessary traffic.
Bus routes etc.
Thanks for the renewed interest in this post.
I'm not really sure how this would affect some of the bus routes as I dont really know many of those which come from Rajajinagar etc. but the way I see it there is not too dramatic a change that has to be made as I'm just suggesting replacing one parallel route by another. As far as the left turn at Anand Rao circle is concerned I dont see why buses cannot achieve the same end by going through Majestic from Sampige road instead of going on to Seshadri road.
Its possible that other bottlenecks could be created - but I dont see any obvious one - unlike the several obvious ones in the existing situation. What I find particularly annoying is the one where buses going down Margosa road basically block 18th Cross every time they leave. Its incredibly stupid and amazing that such bad planning is possible.
I think all this is a result of our `adjust maadi' attitude whereby we keep adjusting to a point where things become absurd.
Ramesh
Malleswaram Developments
Hi
Recently there have been some changes to the flow of traffic in Malleswaram so I thought I would just update the situation. They have made the stretch between Maramma circle and 18th cross on Margosa road one way.
However, while this does improve the flow of traffic from Yeswantpur to the city, it, to a certain extent makes things worse. For example, travelling from Malleswaram to Yeswantpur becomes worse, as one has to go down 18th cross, deal with a signal at Margosa. cross that, deal with a signal at Sampige, turn left and then deal with a jam at Maramma circle as traffic coming from Yeswantpur has to cross over there.
So instead of 2 jams I now deal with 3. If they reverse the orientation of Margosa and Sampige it would reduce it to 0. and reduce traffic coming in to Malleswaram. And simplify travel to the station etc...
On a more positive note, I must say that things have improved in Malleswaram. The new `footpaths' while not walkable, at least reduce the chaos on the road and have improved parking as the ends of the roads have become more regular. And the Zero Garbage Zone policy seems to be working well.
Ramesh
Timing Traffic Signals...
I think it is very important that time be managed efficiently between every two signals. There are times where people wait long watching empty vehicle-less space opposite to theirs.If only signals be set through calculating the distance between one stop to another and average time required to reach it, traffic flow will have lessened problems.,
Placing dividers for example on the 18th cross bridge can solve problems regarding opposite crossing of traffic. i think they must be made mandatory on all main roads as it also checks dead on collisions!
Regards
Run
peace out
Sreejis12
"Buses going to KR market (from malleswaram side)which take a left turn at AnandRao circle will not be able to do a similar left as per the plan you have suggested. If that problem can be solved this will be a great plan to reduce unnescessary traffic."
- sreejits12
No disregard, but the left turn at Anand Rao circle for buses going to KR market is totally acceptable. I just passed by that way and found nothing wrong in it.
- Villain
Malleswaram Traffic Woes
Good suggestions and arguments on traffic management to ease the traffic woes for malleswaram citizens.
Most of this traffic congestion is because of over commericialization of residential localities like malleswaram, shouldn't their be a control to these, already we have Big Bazar which is come in last weekend, now mantri residential + commercial, plus others who have started construction. Plus wait for more traffice woes when Brigade Gateway opens up.
Yet Another benefit.
As predicted the opening of Mantri Square has caused massive traffic buildups on Sampige near the mall. The largest mall in India is hellish to enter as one has to risk lift and limb to cross the road to get there. Amazingly the traffic authorities have made absolutely no provision for pedestrians to cross near the mall and the mall folks dont seem to be bothered.
The addition of Big Bazaar on 5th Cross has also added to the chaos. Which brings me to the subject of my rant. Another benefit of the proposed traffic changes would be that instead of the huge build up below the underpass because people want to turn right on to Seshadripuram Link Road from 5th Cross, if traffic were reversed there would be a free left so there would be no build up.
On a positive note the footpaths on Sampige Road have been greatly improved in parts with fresh tiling. So they are actually walkable. I wonder how long that will last though.
Ramesh