If the city planners do not understand what brings traffic to a complete standstill at peak hours, let’s deconstruct it for them - no more highways and elevated corridors that run straight down to the narrow, congested roads at ground level. Surely, it doesn’t need much imagination for any urban planner to know that the need of the hour is seamless traffic on roads that have properly managed exit and entry points - and clover leaf junctions and trumpet flyovers, so that the gridlock and mayhem at critical points where the highway meets the road, ends.
When talking of congestion the reference is nearly always to traffic on roads within the city and hardly anyone cares to mention the chaos on the highway entry points into Bengaluru where vehicles compete to make their way into it in the absence of infrastructure to head them off into the directions of their choice.
“Take the traffic heading for the city from Hosur Road. Not all of it comes straight in as some vehicles move east , some west and so on. Similarly some of the incoming traffic on Mysore Road turns towards Kanakapura Road, some towards Bannerghatta Road or Hosur Road and some towards Magadi or Tumakuru Roads. Currently, the distribution happens in a disorganized, haphazard manner,” observed traffic experts.
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The problem is that city planners have not understood that regional arterial pathways have to be designed differently from city flyovers, according to urban expert, Ashwin Mahesh.“The Silk Board, Nayandahalli, Old Madras Road - Hoskote junctions and Tumakuru-Yeshwanthpura junctions are huge entry points into the city and cannot be treated like any other city junction,” he underlined.
Other experts too agree that such junctions are not just traffic flow points, but traffic distribution points. “They are distributors of regional traffic , sending vehicles straight on, to the left, right and so on. We need to make these junctions arterial distributors of traffic,” they emphasised, adding that the solution was to build interchanges, which were a part of inter-city mobility , but not a part of mobility inside Bengaluru.
Traffic jam at Hebbagodi
“The authorities only think about building flyovers, which are not designed for multidirectional distribution of traffic when in fact these are required at all entry points to the city to scatter traffic flow,” urban experts regretted, noting that city planners had, in fact, done the opposite.
Trumpet & Clover Leaf flyovers a solution for city entry point traffic congestion
The Clover Leaf flyover and Trumpet flyover derive their names from their design, which allows free movement of traffic in different directions in an orderly fashion and at high speed. “It's important for major entry points into the city to have distributors like these flyovers that allow traffic to flow smoothly in different directions. These have to be high-speed distributors, allowing vehicles to take even the turns without restriction. All this should be accomplished without impacting pedestrian movement,” explained urban expert, Ashwin Mahesh.
“The funny thing is we have done it the other way. The Domlur flyover on the intermediate ring road is built like a distributor although it is inside the city, while the same kind of distributor does not exist outside it. The only flyover that resembles a distributor and serves its purpose is the Hebbal flyover. That kind of distributor should be built at all entry points to the city,” they suggested. “Trumpet or Clover Leaf “ flyovers with their large area separators to allow the traffic to flow in different directions, that are a part and parcel of cities in the developed world, seem to be the favoured solution to the congestion at the many entry points to the city as well.
Traffic at Yeswanthpur Deenadayala Upadhyaya over bridge junction connecting Peenya, Malleshwaram, Mekri Circle, Vijaynagar and Rajajinagar (Photo: R. Samuel)
But has Bengaluru left it too late to build them? Some experts believe it may have and argue they are no longer feasible unless they are located some distance from the city where land is still available for such massive infrastructure.
BIEC: Perfect apot for Trumpet flyover
The junction of the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) on Tumakuru Road, which is an entry point into Bengaluru, deserves to have a Trumpet/Clover Leaf flyover with large area separators to allow the traffic to flow in all directions, according to traffic expert, M N Srihari. These massive multidirectional flyovers should be at a distance from the city so that the traffic is re-directed without touching the roads inside, he explains, noting that such flyovers cannot be constructed on its immediate outskirts given the land constraints.
The problem in Bengaluru is we allow all the traffic to touch the Outer Ring Road which is already congested before it enters the city. If we increase the number of ring roads instead, it may be possible to deal more efficiently with the traffic
—MN Srihari, Traffic expert
‘Concentric circle of roads will ease traffic’
Besides the Trumpet and Clove Leaf flyovers, experts suggest the creation of more concentric circles of outer ring roads, peripheral ring roads and intermediate ring roads to disperse the incoming traffic on the city’s outskirts without allowing it to enter it directly.
“This has been done successfully in Delhi and Hyderabad. Over 174 km of ring roads have been laid 30 km outside Hyderabad city to disperse regional traffic that does not require to enter it. There is, however, no such system growing in Bengaluru,” noted traffic expert, MN Srihari, traffic, adding, “The problem here is we allow all the traffic to touch the Outer Ring Road which is already congested before it enters the city. If we increase the number of ring roads instead, it may be possible to deal more efficiently with the traffic.”
Pointing out that entry and exit points are crucial for regular flyovers in the city as well, Mr Srihari says they too ideally need to have a large area for separators for orderly traffic move in different directions. “This would be very similar to what we call a traffic plaza or clover leaf patterned flyover. But building such massive flyovers will require an enormous amount of land acquisition by the government, which is not easy as the areas in question are filled with built-up property and realty,” he explained.
Pedestrians, who are often ignored, must be given their due as well when building such infrastructure, stress experts, pointing out that Domlur with its never ending traffic, is a nightmare for people on foot, as is Hosur Road near Narayana Health, where many have had fatal accidents. Several have also lost their lives at the infamous Nayandahalli junction on Mysore Road and the Kempapura junction near Esteem Mall on International Airport Road, they note, suggesting that its important for large flyovers to take pedestrian movement into account in the interest of people's safety. “These distributors will have to be built in a comprehensive way , allowing vehicle movement in different directions and also facilitating pedestrian movement and walkability,” said urban expert, Ashwin Mahesh.
