The BBMP has propsed that the stretch from Sirsi Circle to Gali Anjaneya Temple on Mysore Road be widened. This involves chopping trees all along the stretch. These are already well-known plans from the news reports and praja discussions. There are a couple of estimates on the number of trees to be chopped some saying 50 and some 100+. But, lets not be get into the numbers. Whats important is to find ways to solve the bottleneck without chopping the trees, if any available.
Mysore Road starts from KR Market. Vehicles zip across from Town hall on the flyover for about 2.5 kms, pass over the Sirsi Circle, and get struck at the ramp of the flyover. Why ? There is a choke point immediately after the flyover (about 150mts away).
The picture above shows the road plan to the west of Sirsi Circle. The Flyover bring in two lanes of traffic, the surface level slip road from Sirsi Circle brings another two lanes of traffic and there is two more lanes of traffic joining the 'intersection' from Chamarajapet, through the Albert Victor Road. That is six lanes of traffic merging into two lanes in space of about 100 mts. Add to this, there is a right turn into Old Guddadahalli immediately after, and hence the merged traffic should also re-align lanes so enable vehicles from AV Road to enter Guddadahalli Road.
There is a traffic signal installed about 200 mts from the end of flyover, only to enable the right turn into Guddadahalli. This means the traffic on the other side of the road - from Bapujinagar to Sirsi Circle/Flyover - gets stalled at the si. gnal. This creates long jams on both sides of the road. Peaks hours are terribly bad, Saturdays are worse!!
The solution to this issue lies in widening the junction to accomodate more vehicles. Long stretches of roads need not be widened for smoother traffic flow. Its time now for BBMP to widen junctions, as against road widening. This post has a plan to fasten the exit from this intersection.
Firstly, there are two small streches to be widened (marked in the picture above). On the northern side, the strech from DHL office to the burial ground - about 200mts - has to be widened. On the other side of Mysore Road, the stretch from the end of Albert Victor road to the IOC petrol bunk (immediately after the present signal) has to be widened. This will mean loss of only 3 trees each on either side( two more have already been chopped off!!).
Another important change required at the junction is to remove the traffic signal. This can be achieved by a simple 7mts (two lane) magic box on the northern half of the Guddahalli-Mysore road junction. Illustration below.
This will assure uninterruped movement on the nothern side of the road - for vehicles from Bapujinagar side to Sirsi Circle. Post widening, there will be enough width (single lane)on the surface level for any vehicles from Bapujinagar to turn left into Guddadahalli.
For vehicles from Ch'pet or Sirsi Circle, removal of the signal will mean uninterrupted right turn into Guddadahalli. U-turns for the same vehicles will also become more faster, since they do not have to compete for the road space with the vehicles in other direction.
These two simple steps will help ensure fast movement of traffic, at only about 10% of the 17-crore budgeted for widening the road.
There are two further choke points - one near the Shell petrol bunk and another close to the Gali Anjaneya Temple. I will write on these two separately.
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Comments
Nice Solution for Mysore Road - Choke Point 1
Srivastava,
The solution proposed here is a very good one which will save many trees which are planned to the axed, whom do we contact to present/propose this solution in BBMP.
The extract from DH news (Sources in the BBMP claim that the Environment Department tried to stall the felling of trees as much as possible, but ultimately failed.
“We were under immense pressure to clear the project by the higher-ups in the Palike. We tried to stall it but ultimately had to be cleared,” said a BBMP official on request of anonymity.)
Can a PIL be filed to stop the axing of the trees if BBMP is hell bent on their way.
Mail this to traffic police as well as BDA
Srivatsava, why not mail a link to this post, and the original pictures to traffic police (ACP Traffic) and BBMP (http://www.bbmp.gov.in/im...). Try Commissioner himself and special comm projects.
PIL needed
I think a PIL has to be immediately filed.
Mysore rd flyover end
Srivastava - Good Job with detailed diagrams & accompanying suggestion. I know the area generally, but not in-depth & had also been under the impression that the rd where Sirsi circle flyover ramp ends & soon after has many roads connecting & hence, is a choke point.
Magic boxes have height restrictions. So, I'm not sure if they are high enough for trucks.
Another point - what is the normal flow for traffic emerging out from Albert Victor road ? Are they presently being allowed only to proceed left when joining Mysore rd or can they also turn right to go up the ramp towards Town hall ?
What about vehicles on Mysore rd intending to turn right into Albert Victor rd ? Is this presently being permitted ?
Problem with underpass idea
The distance between the junction and the start of the flyover is so small that an underpass cannot be built such that it reaches the surface and has enough space for vehicles to switch lanes and move below the flyover towards Sirsi Circle. This can be a huge problem for this idea towards implementation. Secondly, while the underpass is being built, the traffic situation will be a total chaos with just one lane for the traffic moving towards Townhall.
turn solution needed..
for the traffic going towards Guddadahalli from Mysore road but there is a catch..
1.Magic underpass for Mysore road traffic may not be adequate as there is dependency on size of vehicles using the highway..the MUP's can never measure up to handle to super heavy htv traffic!
2.Full fledged underpass also is not a solution here as its an over kill for the mostly LMV traffic which turns into Guddadahalli. And as Muthu says above the space we are talking here may not be adequate..
So what to do?
The need is for a U-turn on Mysore road..this can be accommodated in the space available at the toll-gate stop..in front of DHL-Gopalan Mall..
There is space here is adequate for implementing a underpass U-turn..and the trees here are already chopped off too!
Also with this u-turn..we shd be able to make mysore road signal free till satellite bus stand too! The signal infront of Shell PB can also be removed with this!
This will also avoid all turning traffic as soon as we get down from the flyover!
expansion not the only solution...
Somehow, the only solution our bbmp thinks of to traffic jams is fell the trees and widen roads. This is the easiest approach. But the real problem is about the proper usage of the road infastructure. All along the mysore road, there is no restriction on what type of vehicle can ply during what time. All through, there are so many junctions and anyone can take any turn any where. The other most important thing, is the lack of bus bay. Instead of felling trees to widen the entire stretch, why not widen just the bus bay and allow the regular traffic?