Bengaluru: Commuting in the Central Business District (CBD) is becoming tough with multiple civic agencies taking up infrastructure projects simultaneously. The Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL), BWSSB and Bescom have all taken up projects at different locations, while the BBMP is adding to the motorists’ nightmare by taking up the white topping work from Chalukya Circle till CID Circle (Radison Blue Hotel Road).
The CBD areas with major arterial and sub-arterial roads will face major traffic logjams, especially during peak hours, over the next month. The stretch where white topping is being taken up connects Vidhana Soudha, Vikasa Soudha and Multi-Storied (MS) Building that house a number of government offices. It will be choked as employees have to reach office between 9.30 and 10.30 am.
Apart from offices, this stretch also connects a number of schools and colleges. Over the next 30 days, cutting through Chalukya Circle would be an uphill task.
A senior BBMP officer told Deccan Chronicle that the Palike has taken up comprehensive development of Palace Road from Mysore Bank Circle to Chalukya Circle under the TenderSure project.
To facilitate smooth progress of works and for speedy completion of the project, the road connecting Chalukya Circle and CID office will be closed for 30 days. TenderSure involves providing quality road surface which lasts for at least 10 years and providing utility ducts to lay the utility lines. In the process, several utilities like BWSSB's water and sanitary pipes, electricity cables and telephone cables would have to be shifted. The officer sought the coordination of these agencies.
The officer said that in order to avoid inconvenience to motorists, the BBMP along with the traffic police have made alternate traffic arrangements. Traffic from the Chalukya Circle will be diverted to Devaraj Urs Road and further right turn near the KPSC (Udyoga Soudha) office and left at the CID office to reach Palace Road, said the officer.
A government employee, Purushotham, whose office is located at Vikasa Soudha, said that he commutes from Hebbal and because of the TenderSure work and traffic diversion, he would have to start at least 30 minutes early to avoid getting stuck in traffic. In the evening, he would reach home an hour late as against his regular time, he said. There is no Metro to reach office on time and other public modes of traffic would also be stuck in traffic, he said.
