Commuters take up to one hour to cover 4 kilometres as work on Hebbal flyover drags on in north Bengaluru

The project seems to be moving at a slow pace since work began a little over a year ago. The congestion on the road has progressively worsened, and even localities in and around Hebbal flyover have been impacted by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) resuming work on constructing additional lanes on the flyover from Esteem Mall to Baptist Hospital.

It was 9.45 a.m. on a rainy Monday morning and the busy Ballari Road was chock–a–block with vehicles near Esteem Mall. It is from this point that the pace of traffic starts to slow down before motorists hit the infamous Hebbal flyover in north Bengaluru. Amidst blaring horns, the sirens of ambulances can be heard every 10 – 15 minutes.  

Two constables were tasked with traffic management on the flyover. After making way for one ambulance, one of them explained, “The traffic from a total of nine lanes (Ballari Road, the service road and the vehicles coming from K.R. Puram) are squeezed into just two lanes on the flyover. Moreover, we see a lot of big cars with just one person inside, instead of car-pooling. These are the root causes of the traffic snarls.”

He remarked that traffic was particularly bad on Monday July 15 due to the rain. 

The project seems to be moving at a slow pace since work began a little over a year ago. The congestion on the road has progressively worsened, and even localities in and around Hebbal flyover have been impacted by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) resuming work on constructing additional lanes on the flyover from Esteem Mall to Baptist Hospital.

After the dismantling a few months ago of two lanes meant for vehicles coming from K.R. Puram to get on the flyover, the space on the carriageway has become narrower. 

The Hindu team commuted from Esteem Mall to Hebbal Police Station on a two-wheeler to assess the time it takes to cross the flyover, between 11.10 a.m. and 11.40 a.m. It took around 13 minutes to commute a mere 900 metres and climb the ramp of the flyover. The time taken to reach Hebbal Police Station, covering a total distance of 4 kilometres, was 27 minutes. By this time, peak hour traffic had started to reduce.

According to the traffic police constable, the volume of vehicles on the flyover is maximum from 8.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m.