100m-long bottleneck will hit traffic

HEBBAL FLYOVER: Even Upgradation Has Failed To Address The Problem Of Narrow Stretch Between The Congested Flyover And Kempapura Entrance 

Be ready for a messier ride between Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) and the city.The proposed plan to upgrade and widen Bellary Road leading to BIA has failed to iron out the problem created by a 100-metre-long bottleneck between Hebbal flyover and Kempapura entrance.

It is estimated that the daily traffic volume at Hebbal flyover,a crucial junction en route to BIA,will nearly double in a year.Currently,the flyover records a daily passenger car unit (PCU) of about 1.4 lakh,which is projected to cross the 2 lakh

 

figure in a year.The upgradation project taken up by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) between Hebbal flyover and BIA,however,has run into a landlock of sorts at the Kempapura entrance.The bottleneck is the consequence of a huge mismatch on either side of it: The Bellary Road stretch on BIA side is a 10-lane road expressway service roads,while,on the other side,eight lanes radiate towards the city.The situation will worsen once the upgradation work is completed: the BIA side stretch will become a 16-lane highway including an elevated six-lane corridor,but on the other side it will be a nine-lane affair with five lanes going up/down the flyover,two lanes from Tumkur Road side and two lanes towards the Outer Ring Road-KR Puram side.The bottleneck at the junction of the two stretches is about six lanes wide.Complicating the problem is the Hebbal flyover.The upgradation envisages adding one lane to the flyover towards BIA side,while there is no compensation lane in the reverse direction.All efforts to widen and ease the bottleneck have not gone beyond the drawing board as the stretch is locked with army land on one side and a cemetery on the other.The army is yet to agree to part with the land.The elevated expressway and the extra lane on the Hebbal flyover are expected to be finished and opened for commuters by April this year.But the persisting bottleneck has had the traffic police fearing chaos as the traffic density on the flyover almost doubles over the next year.Besides,the extra lane on the flyover will only benefit airportbound traffic. Traffic speeding from the BIA side on eight of the 16 lanes will have to squeeze into a six-lane narrow stretch at this bottleneck before moving on to the five lanes towards the city.It will be difficult for traffic policemen on the ground to manage the chaos, additional commissioner of police (traffic) MA Saleem said.

THE DENSITY 

1.4 lakh Passenger Car Units (PCU) is the current daily traffic volume at Hebbal flyover 2 lakh PCU is the projected figure in a year from now A passenger car unit comprises a car and is used to measure highway traffic volume.While two two-wheelers are considered equal to one car,larger vehicles are broken into a number of cars depending on their passenger capacity.

NOT A PRIDE ANYMORE 

Hebbal flyover was once considered the pride of Bangalore.But now that traffic grinds to a halt on the flyover every time a vehicle breaks down,it seems the flyover designers did not account for the future.Inaugurated in 2003,the flyover was built in a record 26 months at a cost of Rs 43 crore.It has four loops which add up to 5.23 km.A fifth lane is now being added to the loop descending towards Kempapura.The flyover bagged the first prize in 9th Outstanding Bridge National Awards competition given by Indian Institution of Bridge Engineers in 2005.

NO JOY RIDE: Hebbal flyover records a daily passenger car unit of 1.4 lakh,which is projected to cross the 2 lakh figure in a year