The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : ‘No relief in near future’

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 21, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

‘No relief in near future’

K.V. Subramanya

Impact of constructions on traffic ignored
Vehicle-actuated signals to come up at 160 junctions

K.C. Ramamurthy

BANGALORE: Attributing the increasing traffic woes of Bangalore mainly to the lack of foresight on part of the town planners, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) K.C. Ramamurthy says the situation will ease only after a couple of years when some long-term infrastructure projects become functional.

Mr. Ramamurthy told The Hindu that Bangalore’s infrastructure had not developed in proportion to the growth in other economic sectors, particularly the booming construction sector, which has a bearing on the city’s road traffic.

Citing the example of Bannerghatta Road, Mr. Ramamurthy says: “Imagine the situation if 4,000 cars originate from a huge apartment complex with each family having three to four cars. There are several such apartments and IT companies on Bannerghatta Road.”

The steep increase in the number of vehicles and concentration of huge commercial complexes, malls and apartments on particular roads have led to the chaos. Planners have ignored the impact of these large-scale constructions on traffic, he says, while making out a case for including the police in the town planning process.

Incidentally, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has now started to insist on builders that they should submit a traffic plan along with details of the building project. The police would look into the traffic plan and give their opinion to the BBMP, which will finally decide on granting permission, he said. Mr. Ramamurthy says augmenting the city’s infrastructure was the major solution to the traffic problems. To ease traffic congestion, several infrastructure projects such as construction of flyovers, grade separators and underpasses have been taken up. Before these long-term projects become reality, the police and other agencies have drawn up plans to mitigate the traffic problems in the immediate future, he said.

Under the Chief Minister’s 10-Point Programme, the Bangalore Traffic Task Force (BTTF) has focused on traffic management.

According to BTTF, vehicle-actuated signals would be installed at 160 junctions to reduce congestion through efficient movement of vehicles.

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