[raveesh_k]

Area Impacted - Neeladri Road, Electronics City Phase I
=============================================
(Please note: The main idea behind this thread is to make fellow citizens aware of the road conditions in the vicinity and if possible alternative route options to beat the traffic and the wear 'n' tear of your car)

Hi Friends,

All of us would agree that this year has blessed us with much awaited full fury monsoon throughout the country. All the dams are full, water tables have risen considerably and there is lush greenery all around. No wonder we have so many travelogues/escapades from cities to the nearest green spots. And must I say, the pictures have just been gorgeous!
More often than not, a good rainy stint also brings along an aftermath. One of it, is the commonly found moon surface aka 'crater' road. A lot of cities are 'famous' for it - Mumbai, Bangalore etc. Till the local administration comes to the rescue, we, the 'Aam Aadmi' have little choice but to rattle our bones and suspension with it And god help you if the road in your vicinity cracks up just before or when the monsoon begins - in all probability the authorities will not pick up the repair work till the rains die down. The commuters of the patch that I will be illustrating below are one of those unfortunate ones...

Area impacted - Neeladri Road, which is an important connect between Banerghetta Road and Electronics City owing to bare minimum traffic and zero traffic signals. For your reference the origin in the map below is Meenakshi Mall, Banerghetta road and the destination is Infosys Campus, E.City. The route selected is via Begur-Koppa Road.



Zooming-in on to the map above, I have highlighted the bad patch on Neeladri road below.



For obvious reasons, this route is packed with office goers during morning and evening, considering its zero traffic signal zone with bare minimum traffic. Given the conditions of the road, there is a complete mess during peak business hours here. During the end of this write up I will mark an alternative way on the maps which users can take/are taking up to avoid this chock-a-block.

But before that lets look at the condition of the road in 'dry' condition on a Sunday afternoon.

Approaching the patch just after we cross Ajmera Infinity and Ganga Vertica on the left. The mud layer that you see on the left hand side was recently added to counter the unevenness of the road, but little did they know that shortly after it would rain and the mud would add on to the list of several other factors that have made the surface very unstable to drive. More on that later.



Mind you, this is a lazy Sunday afternoon and a dry day. You can imagine the situation when it comes to peak traffic hours or peak traffic hour with 0.5 to 1 feet water on a rainy day collected between the left boundary wall to right boundary of the apartment societies on either side. This water logged unstable stretch is easily around 400-500 meters, enough to pile up traffic on either sides for a kilometer!
The society that you see on the right (yellow) is Ittina Mahaveera.



There are the two severely impacted patches on this road (several minor ones), the one shown above and below is the better one of the two.



The images don't look that scary, but trust me when water logged, even in the comfort and security of one's own car, people think twice before they attempt any pothole on this stretch. Many a times you see people doing a last minute steer left or right in order to avoid a water logged pothole which initially they thought they could tackle head on.
Seeing two wheelers falls down is a common sight on this road, especially women on their Activas. As you can see, to level the unevenness of the surface they have added stones. Every second day it's raining so more often than not, you see all the bulldozers are parked.

Approaching the second patch.



The patch below is the real one-at-a-time bottle neck. Even the puddles that are created here are reasonably sized potholes. It did not rain this weekend and still the water persisted till Sunday evening in these craters. Gives an idea of how deep they are.



The society on the right is Genisis Ecosphere. It's really surprising to find that this road which hosts some really nice townships is in, this bad a shape.



All the stones which are yet to be layered by the bulldozers. I am really concerned for the people on two wheelers falling on this surface.



A close up



The pic below demonstrates the unevenness in this stretch that I had mentioned earlier.



The pothole below is another minor one-at-a-time bottle neck close to Wipro gate but there is enough stable ground on either side to pass this patch.



I will try capturing the madness during a 'rainy peak business hour chaos' but taking pictures at that time has been quite difficult till now, being a part of that bottleneck myself. But will try posting a few pics nevertheless...

Now for the alternative route that one can take to avoid this madness:



1. After crossing St Xaviers on your left, we hit a small crossing on which usually the traffic takes right and then the left to hit the Neeladri road. Instead of taking that right, take the road straight ahead.

Zooming in:



Continuing from above:
(Note: in this route the road is narrow but wide enough for incoming traffic to pass abreast.)
2. Just keep following the road, it curves ahead, and then finally hits a 'right only' just where Ganesh Medicals is.
3. Take that right and keep going until you hit a T end.
4. Take the right from that T junction (left is a very narrow road, and most of the traffic will be taking a right here).
5. Just after taking that right, take the immediate/first left.
6. Keep coming straight till you hit a (iron) gate and hit another T end which is the Velankani Drive.
7. If you wish to take the Elevate toll, you can take a right from the Velankani drive T junction and keep following the road. The road will curve towards your left and finally meet BHEL gate followed by Siemens, then Infosys Gate 1 and finally the toll plaza.
8. If you wish to take Hosur road, take the left from Velankani Drive T junction, take the immediate/first right and then the first/immediate left. This is the same road on which HP campus gates fall. Straight ahead you will meet up Hosur Main road.

Hope this helps!

Would be good if others can also contribute in the same thread by adding more rain impacted areas/routes.

Cheers!

PS: All the pics have been taken by my phone (HTC One X) camera.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to Street Experiences. Thanks for sharing!

[kiranknair]

Good thread. I live near Begur road and use the same road - Neeladiri - Wipro and then EC Phase 2. The road is pathetic near Genesis Ecosphere - or i could rather say there was no road last friday after 3 days of mild rains. My car was like 1/3rd covered with water (felt like a submarine) and was scared that it would stop, but luckily just managed to cross that stretch. Some questions i would like to ask -

1) We pay so much of road taxes and in fact it is one of the highest in KA. Why does this not translate into good roads?

2) Why are so many irregular speed breakers on this stretch. Some are so bad that it hits the car's bottom every time. I agree, that we need to slow down the vehicle, but that doesn't mean that we need to destroy the car.

[vroom666]

Area Impacted: Half a kilometre stretch on the Hennur Main Road from Hennur junction towards Hennur Bande (this road leads to the International Airport Road) is totally broken by the heavy rains over the last 2 days. This is right in front of the Indian Academy College.

Vehicles go in 'slow motion' on this stretch and cause long jams specially during peak office hours. I am guessing till the time they complete the Flyover (currently being constructed between Hennur & Lingarajpuram/Kammanahalli side) they will not fix this road up so people of this area have to live with this sorry state of affairs for another year atleast.

[raveesh_k]

Originally Posted by kiranknair

2) Why are so many irregular speed breakers on this stretch. Some are so bad that it hits the car's bottom every time. I agree, that we need to slow down the vehicle, but that doesn't mean that we need to destroy the car.

That's because the stretch before St Xavier's when coming from Banerghetta Road, passes through a local establishment/village. Even the alternative route that I have marked passes through Doddathogur village. Hence the bumps. There is almost one for each house. But not much can be done I guess.
I read in today's newspaper itself that after ages the authorities have noticed the dangerous bumps on Mysore Road somehow and they are planning to address the concern now. But still they have to talk to the villages inbetween and sort of take thier consent which could be a little tricky!

Cheers!

[guyfrmblr]

Very nice thread

Update: The Borewell road in Whitefield which connects from Whitefield to Vydehi hospital is dug up for laying cables. The road is now full of slush, potholes and bumps and is best avoided between 9-11 in the morning, 5-7:30 in the evening and also during rains. The situation worsens with giant company buses and water tankers getting stuck at the narrow stretch at Nallurahalli village.

This road is usually taken by people going to EPIP area from Varthur. I have started avoiding this road from past 1 week keeping in mind of my car's suspension and tyres. I instead take the 1 km longer route of Whitefield - Hopefarm - ITPL - ITPL back gate - Sathya Sai hospital to reach EPIP area. One may have to wait for around 2-3 minutes at Hopefarm signal but the drive is far better than that of Borewell road.

Originally Posted by kiranknair

Why are so many irregular speed breakers on this stretch. Some are so bad that it hits the car's bottom every time. I agree, that we need to slow down the vehicle, but that doesn't mean that we need to destroy the car.

I guess you are referring to the speed breakers inside Bettadasapura. They are horrible. I'm seeing a new road being built just before entering this village towards right when you come from Begur-Koppa side. Its at the place where there is a small temple to the left on a hillock. I hope this bypasses the village.

[raveesh_k]

A little bit of good news though (hope I am not speaking too soon).
With the weekend gone by the sun has been sprinkling some good shine in bits and with negligible showers, the authorities have taken up some work on the Neeladri road stretch.

Most of the road is leveled with stones and mud. The pictures below were taken yesterday. Almost all the potholes have been covered and the road has regained its full drivable width (well almost).



As you can see the ride will still be bumpy but it's very manageable.



The only spolier now would be another bout of rain (good rain) which will bring back the condition to how it was earlier.

But till then I think we can use this road. I am not seeing any major pile ups since the last couple of days. However, if it rains then it's better to stick to the alternative route mentioned. User discretion is advised.

Cheers!

[shyamk]

The signal outside hyderabad biriyani just before lifestyle has decent sized deep craters on the left side & the right side of the road. Please drive with caution, as I did help a car owner get his stuck car out of that pothole by using some stones. Luckily for me and others, it was one of the small cars that we could maneuver easily.

Shyam

[sansvk]

Although it doesn't rain much these days in Bangalore, there are no shortage of potholes.
Here are some really bad sections of roads
1) Ulsoor Road adjacent to the BWSSB office
2) Old Airport right opposite to Leela palace
3) Trinity circle opposite the church towards Domlur

[Tempelhof]

The road that connects ITPL with KR Puram (which passes through Rajpalya, Hoodi) has become worse. Take care particularly near the Rajpalya bus stop. Huge Silicon Valleys ahead

[raveesh_k]

More pics from today morning, 22nd Aug 9 am. As you can see the road is a lot better, dried completely and layered stones have settled in.

Traffic is passing with ease now.
Next up: Tar the roads (not your lungs!)









PS: I have done some PP on the pics so that the surface is clearly visible.

Cheers!

[ambivalent_98]

Well I didn't go through the entire thread but INdia's silicon valley also suffers from drastic power cuts. An overcast sky and a breeze is enough for us to lose electric power.
One observation is that other roads might get fixed eventually but roads around govt companies like HAL , ISRO , BEML have been the same pathetic state for a long time and not yet fixed despite of the heavy traffic they see. Anyone take notice ? I mean for example Old Airport Road. It is OK till the airport and suddenly beyond HAL till about Maratahalli the whole road is a mess as it passes thru govt territory with no private offices on either side. Same case with the road connecting this with Old Madras Road. Is this an area specific problem or the Central government discourages roads being fixed around their companies.

[kiranknair]

Originally Posted by guyfrmblr

Very nice thread
I guess you are referring to the speed breakers inside Bettadasapura. They are horrible. I'm seeing a new road being built just before entering this village towards right when you come from Begur-Koppa side. Its at the place where there is a small temple to the left on a hillock. I hope this bypasses the village.

Yes, I was referring to the same. I see the road that your mentioning now that bypasses this village meets the temple area. This road would be good, but again it looks narrow.

[aerohit]

They collect highest road and registration tax in the country and this is what you get.

I have decided not to buy a new car in KA just because I dont want to pay tax to this particular state govt. I will live with an old or used car.

[Oranger]

Originally Posted by aerohit

They collect highest road and registration tax in the country and this is what you get.

I have decided not to buy a new car in KA just because I dont want to pay tax to this particular state govt. I will live with an old or used car.

I would like to correct you a bit or say throw some light on the road conditions in the neighboring state, i.e Maharashtra: Whenever i cross the MH border and enter KA, the road transforms itself into a autobahn. Here we pay Toll for every 21 Kms travelled ranging from Rs 20 to 80, for the so called four laning & six laning. Its a absolute party for these road development officials here in MH. I found Karnataka government much better at least in terms of infrastructure. This is just my opinion though