At Whitefield, where every street is testament to civic apathy, construction work for Namma Metro Phase 2 has begun with little regard for already irate commuters. Roads along the proposed track are covered in debris and a five-kilometre drive can take upto an hour, even on a weekend, complain residents. Service lanes, which can ease traffic on main roads are underutilised. Suburban rail should also be developed, with more trains and feeder buses linking commuters to stations before the construction work unleashes chaos on the streets, says Ranjani Madhavan.
Drive along the proposed Metro Rail track in Whitefield and you see dug up footpaths along GR Tech Park, trees cut, and debris lying near the Sathya Sai Hospital road. People tell you that to beat traffic, they get out of their homes by 7:45 am, but even so with everyone having the same idea and venturing out early, the delays on the road are no better. Lunch hour sees more hold- ups as employees take their cars out to eat in nearby restaurants.
The usual chaos at K.R. Puram
“Driving five to six kilometres could take you 45 minutes on a Saturday afternoon,” they lament. The complaints are only growing louder in Whitefield, Mahadevapura and the rest of the city’s IT corridor as traffic snarls have shot up in the past decade and the delayed start to the Metro construction in Whitefield is not helping matters any. The lack of service roads to divert vehicles and land acquisition problems have stalled the Metro construction on this 15.5 km corridor with IFB Industries Limited and Bangalore Petroleum and Chemicals approaching the court to bring a stay over the land acquisition for the project in the area. Some of the land is needed to construct the Visveswaraiah Station and some for the viaduct.
“There aren't a lot of service roads to divert the traffic from the main road where the Metro Rail has begun work. The existing road laid by the BBMP is not being used properly and vehicles are parked on either side in no parking zones between Baiyappanahalli and KR Puram, all the way to Hoodi," regrets Mr Pravir, member of Whitefield Rising, adding, “The traffic is really a nightmare here, especially in the evenings as people from all over the city, as far as Hebbal, come to work here. During peak hours bottlenecks occur daily in many pockets. The Graphite India junction, RMZ Ecospace Park, and the whole of Outer Ring Road see a jam.”
Suggesting that substitute lanes should be improved to help commuters, he believes the Gaushala Road and Rainbow Hospital Road could be better maintained. "The Bangalore Traffic Police and BBMP should look into this. Also, the potholes in certain sections need to be addressed,” he stresses.
Mr Rajesh Mallaya, secretary of the Whitefield Area Commerce and Industries Association (WACIA), observes that the Old Madras Road too has become extremely congested.
“There are two kinds of traffic that we get here. From Monday to Friday, there are tons of vehicles belonging to office- goers heading to EPIP, ITPL,and so on. And on the weekends, the commercial traffic arrives as people head to shop at the five to six malls in Whitefield," he adds.
Noting that the already narrow road has become narrower with footpaths dug up on either side of it for widening, Mr Pravir believes the Metro construction should have started much earlier.
Agreeing, Mr Mallaya adds, “ We want the road width to remain the same. The existing road is around 8.5 metres wide and now what is available for traffic movement is just 6.3 metres. There is a lot of traffic density and we are worried what will happen when full-fledged construction begins.”
Strongly suggesting that provision should be made for buses to pick up and drop off passengers and sufficient parking space provided in upcoming Metro stations, he reveals he has submitted a seven- point memorandum to the BMRCL highlighting his concerns and hopes they will be addressed.
Whitefield Railway Station could take a lot of pressure off the roads if it is used for suburban rail services
Give us more trains, better footpaths, demand residents
Ask the people of Whitefield for their take on the traffic congestion caused by the work on the Metro Rail in the area, and they have a slew of solutions to deal with it.
“Until the Metro is built, we should have more BMTC buses to cater to the loop between Hoodi and ITPL going through the various industries and companies for the benefit of the employees, ” says one resident, Sandeep.
Others believe there should be a full fledged suburban rail MEMU service in the area as railway stations like Baiyappanahalli, KR Puram, Hoodi and Whitefield already exist here. Noting that the railways had given the go-ahead for it , they are upset that little headway has been made on the project, which could have come to their aid at this time of need.
“A lot can be achieved by running a commuter rail service between Baiyappanahalli and Whitefield railway stations. They should introduce it at least until the Metro is up and running. It takes 45 minutes by road and six minutes by train from Hoodi to Hope farm,” says Ms Anjali Saini, another resident.
Pointing out that there is an under- utilised halt at Satellite Goodshed between Hoodi and Whitefield railway station, she says it only needs to be extended by 50 metres to be made a station.
Another demand is for the road behind the railway track to be asphalted to divert vehicles from the ITPL Road where Metro work is scheduled to get underway.
And even once the Metro Rail takes off, integrating it with other modes of transport will only make their life better, they argue. “It will be of great if we could walk on a good footpath, take a feeder to the Metro station or change over to the railway line with ease,” say several of them.
