Madiwala Main Road: Sore spot for motorists

Bengaluru: Imagine waiting behind a long line of buses just to get out of Madiwala and onto the elevated expressway in the evening. The situation seems to be getting worse each passing day.

With these traffic snarls, the Madiwala Main Road is a pain to navigate and the spot in front of the police station is perpetually jammed.

Come 9 pm, the road sees a long line of trucks and buses waiting to head out of the city as this stretch connects the National Highway 44 that leads to Chennai. The Madiwala road junction is a major transit point for travellers to catch buses to Chennai and also for those coming into the city.

Buses keep stopping on the side of the road to pick up passengers causing major traffic snarls. On the other side is the Madiwala Market and a mall which do not see much traffic except on weekends.

Kaveriamma, who has a shop at the Madiwala vegetable market, says, “The traffic is at its worst between 7 pm and midnight. Lots of buses, especially those heading to Chennai, create a major traffic jam at the junction. During weekends, the road is completely jammed.”

Srinivas, another vegetable vendor, says, “Traffic jams are caused mostly by buses waiting to head out of the city. The jam in front of the police station sometimes extends beyond midnight. The traffic is bumper to bumper.”

Madiwala Traffic Inspector Vasu says, “When it was one-way, traffic used to move smoothly. Now that it has been made into a two-way, we see these traffic jams.”