B’luru citizens’ groups urge BBMP to stop work on Haralur junction underpass

A collective of citizens’ groups in Bengaluru, including the Bellandur Development Forum (BDEV), Bellandur Forum (BF), Iblur Environs trust (IBENT) and the Kasavanahalli Development Forum (KDF) have started a petition urging the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to stop construction of the proposed underpass at Haralur junction of Sarjapura Road estimated to cost Rs 23 crore. The collective represents residents from Outer Ring Road-Bellandur, Sarjapur road, Iblur, Haralur, Kasavanahalli, Halanayakanahalli, Devarabeesanahalli, Bellandur, Kaikondrahalli, Chikkanayakanahalli, Doddakanneli and Carmelaram.
The proposed underpass at Haralur junction is less than 500 metres from the real choke point of Iblur junction where Sarjapura Road intersects with Outer Ring Road, and any intervention at Haralur junction via piecemeal approach will do nothing to address the root cause of the traffic congestion, i.e. Iblur junction, it further says. Calling the project a waste of taxpayers’ money, the petition says, Already, the traffic snarls go up to 1 km and beyond in peak hours- and this will do nothing to address this true bottleneck.
As the underpass comes to grade (ground) just before the traffic light of Iblur junction, vehicles will have to wait at the bottom of the underpass for the light to go green, waiting as much as 90 seconds on average, given the known drainage issues in underpass design in Bengaluru, this could put vehicles in severe danger in rainy situations, it says.
BBMP has hardly made any attempt to even look at pedestrian mobility in this key corridor, while BMRCL has in contrast, added pedestrian mobility plans to get to Iblur metro station from Sarjapura road, even prior to the commissioning of the Sarjapura road Metro line,” the petition says.