Metro work turns Bangalore's Whitefield into a traffic mess

Even as civil work such as barricading and piling for the construction of the 15.50-km Baiyappanahalli-Whitefield Metro line has begun, the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) is yet to widen the roads. This has turned the already-chaotic IT corridor into a traffic mess.

The segments that are extremely clogged with slow-moving vehicles are Graphite India main road, Hoodi circle, Sadaramangala road, ITPB road and the Whitefield main road. This is because the contractor, ITD Cementation India, has barricaded the median (nine metres) for construction without widening parts of the stretch.


“It used to take 15 minutes to reach Vydehi Hospital junction from Hoodi, a distance of six km.Now the travel time is not less than 40 minutes. Even if I want to walk this distance, it's highly risky.There is no footpath at all,“ said Sandeep Deshpande, a software architect at TCS.

With the Metro work going on in ull swing on some stretches, traffic has gone up on the surrounding roads. “As the Graphite India road has been narrowed to allow the construction, vehicles are all over the place. The Whitefield main road near Prestige Shantiniketan and Hope Farm junction too are clogged,“ Deshpande adds.

This has made travel time on the roads unpredictable. “Nearly 100 buses carrying a large number of employees were late by three hours last week. As there are no alternative roads, cops should focus on better traffic management,“ said Dr K Pravi Babu, administrator, Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre. “We have employed ten guards to manage traffic and have requested the police to increase manpower,“ said Babu, who is also the president of the Whitefield Export Promotion Park Industrial Association.

Zibi Jamal, member of Whitefield Rising, had to take a day off from work as she was stuck on the six-km Graphite India factory road for 40 minutes. “To get back home, it took me another 40 minutes,“, she said.“The Railways has done a good job by increasing the number of trains but last-mile connectivity is still an issue,“ she said.

Abhishek Goyal, DCP (Traffic), East, said, “We had a series of meeting with Namma Metro officials. In places where widening of roads is not possible, we have asked them to provide alternative arrangements. That could be repairing the small stretch behind Phoenix and VR Mall.“

Channappa Gowdar, special land acquisition officer at BMRCL, said the roads would be widened shortly. “We will be able to acquire the land between KR Puram and Mahadevapura police station in 20 days. Once this is done, we will widen this stretch. There is no need to widen the remaining stretches as the roads are wide enough,“ he said.