Vehicles damaging Church Street: Mayor Sampath Raj

Bengaluru: Apart from poor quality works and heavy rains, vehicles speeding on remodelled Church Street are the reason for the damage of the road, said Bengaluru Mayor Sampath Raj.

He said that vehicles speeding up to 60 km per hour on the road are damaging the cobblestones. Discussions are on with the traffic department to put restrictions on the speed of vehicles, he said.

Visitors complained that even though there are signboards on the stretch saying the speed limit has to be 10 kmph, vehicles zip through.

Anil Raj, a hotelier on the stretch, said, “A complete ban on vehicles is not the solution. Even putting speed-breakers here will look odd over the Kasauti pattern and spoil it. Only if traffic policemen are posted on the stretch and vehicle users are disciplined the stretch will retain its beauty. Otherwise, it will get spoilt."

Mr Sampath Raj told Deccan Chronicle, “Church Street has been remodelled after spending '14 crore and is one of the best streets which Bengaluru can boast of. Apart from wearing out of some of the cobblestones, all the works are of international standard and should last for ages."

He said, “But the street is not designed for speeding vehicles. It was designed keeping pedestrians in mind. There have been demands from citizen groups to restrict the movement of vehicles.”

Pointing out that vehicle movement cannot be restricted completely, Mr Raj said, “As there are many residential buildings in and around the street, we cannot completely ban vehicular movement. But we have started discussions with the traffic department to impose the speed limit on the stretch rigorously as they are damaging the cobblestones by weakening the joints."