[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Crack on Hebbal flyover arm.

https://www.deccanherald.com/city/mi...rm-693560.html

Still confused where exactly this crack is! Multiple media outlets mention 'Airport to Hennur' which is nearly at ground level, i.e. the sweeping left turn from Esteem Mall to Manyata/KRP but the picture in the article below shows what looks like the elevated BLR city to Hennur loop

https://www.deccanherald.com/city/ch...gh-694378.html

Like the catastrophic Majerhat Bridge collapse in south Kolkata, I do NOT even want to think of the immediate potential fatalities / injuries AND long term impact on traffic if anything happens to ANY arm of the Hebbal junction.

[autospeaker]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Attachment 1801859

Attachment 1801860

NICE road Electronic city exit is Jammed. Reportedly some vehicle has toppled.

Reached office now with a 1 hour delay. This is the reason...

Attachment 1801874

Any idea what is the reason? Our office vehicles were made to exit at Bannerghatta Nice toll and are being directed via Begur Koppa road towards EC. Not sure what time we would reach office todayb😣

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by autospeaker

Any idea what is the reason? Our office vehicles were made to exit at Bannerghatta Nice toll and are being directed via Begur Koppa road towards EC. Not sure what time we would reach office todayb😣

The reason is the photo in the post of mine that you've quoted. Added to that, the indiscipline of our people. First they were going on that angled median (visible in the first picture). Later to ease the traffic, NICE people allowed traffic on the right side of the exit ramp. But our lovely people made 3, 4, 5 lanes there also blocking way for the traffic entering NICE road from EC side. With such behaviour, what more can you expect than a blood red on GMaps (even now it is the same). With traffic backed up at least 2kms before the toll gate NICE might have decided to direct everyone via Begur-Koppa road
Google must come out with a different colour like black for more than blood-red traffic
Will post a time lapse video from my dashcam footage of the morning jam after I return home in the evening.

[drive2eternity]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Google must come out with a different colour like black for more than blood-red traffic

I have had the exact same thought many times, that blood red or maroon does not do justice to the traffic situations we face in Bangalore.
Black is a necessity now.

[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Like the catastrophic Majerhat Bridge collapse in south Kolkata, I do NOT even want to think of the immediate potential fatalities / injuries AND long term impact on traffic if anything happens to ANY arm of the Hebbal junction.

Agreed - the number of vehicles stuck at almost any given time of day on top the flyover while entering the city from the airport on Bellary road, is both scary, and is probably not good either, in terms of increased static load.

[FURY_44]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

NICE road Electronic city exit is Jammed. Reportedly some vehicle has toppled.

A similar incident on Monday morning.
Link to news: https://www.deccanherald.com/city/ma...ru-694261.html

[itwasntme]

Amazed to see the Hebbal state of affairs! That is some serious flooding.

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Amazed to see the Hebbal state of affairs! That is some serious flooding.

I have a rather cynically philosophical answer to that. Akkamahadevi, a 12th century saint-poet writes:

After building a house on the mountain, how can you be afraid of wild animals around it?

After building a house on the sea shore, how can you be afraid of lofty waves?

After building a house in the shanty town (flea market), how can you be concerned with the noise?

Link

As any long term Bengalurean will know, the word Hebbal is derived from a combination of two words - Hiridaada + Halla meaning an area of a great brook. The modern planners of our city have (mis)shaped the infrastructure in a way that suits their own interests and in the process, have completely ignored the geographical and topographical underpinnings of the area. And that's why we have water on the roads, in the basements and inside the houses - while the actual waterways have been encroached, eliminated and built upon.

Can we really complain?

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

The modern planners of our city have (mis)shaped the infrastructure in a way that suits their own interests and in the process, have completely ignored the geographical and topographical underpinnings of the area. And that's why we have water on the roads, in the basements and inside the houses - while the actual waterways have been encroached, eliminated and built upon.

Can we really complain?

Yes we can complain, at least I will. Growing up I was in love with a far too different city from what it has become, the areas such as Hebbal were not even considered city limits (in the strict sense of the word) and the popular buzzwords of today such as like Sarjapur Road, Whitefield and EC were simply extended areas of the city and they were hardly mentioned in the 90's and most of 00's.

The problem was that IT companies proliferated in such large numbers and so suddenly that the city never had a chance to prepare for it in advance or even after, it almost seems like overnight the IT parks like Manyata, EGLP, CBP, RMZ Infinity etc cropped up like mushrooms. This made people to consider areas like Whitefield, Sarjapur Road, Hebbal etc as living areas even though they really aren't.

What can we do about it? For starters we need to protest.. no area has proper water-drainage channels.. and those that are being built are being covered completely on top instead of having drain intakes every few meters, thus causing more water to be logging onto the roads and such water creates more jams, more snarls and people cannot travel at all. These flooding disasters happen after just 2 hours of rain, I cannot even begin to imagine what would happen if a 24 hour cloudburst or extended depression hits the city.

It is in this context that I feel that the population limit of the city has more than doubled, the result is that 100% of the population will face pain, tension and unhappiness in living here. Even nearby destinations take 1 hour to reach (which once took me less than 15 minutes), and when I used to work in E.C, a fellow alumnus and I used to joke that we need to start before 5.30 p.m or we'd reach home in a painful 45 minutes time, today that same journey takes double the time even at 4 p.m thanks to the million signals and speed-barriers.

I've read that more people today refuse to work in Bangalore, and even refuse tempting offers to work here. Its wise of them to do so because the catch-22 here always is more money-more opportunities-terrible life and that self reinforcing prophecy is why Bangalore is what it is today.

[FURY_44]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

Yes we can complain, at least I will.

I completely agree on your points that areas in and around Hebbal were not even considered city limits 12-15 years ago. As a resident for more than 20 years I have literally seen the Hebbal flyover evolve into the mess it is now.

For my daily work activities I for sure need to cross the Hebbal junction in peak timings to reach my office, I have 2 options.

1. Reach the Hebbal junction from BEL Circle, and take the jam packed left arm which connects you towards Mekhri Circle.

2. Take a diversion 2kms ahead at the Badrappa Layout flyover and take the parallel Bhoopasandra main road which connects you towards Mekhri Circle.

Its been a long time since i have taken route no 1 and i would not take that route unless and until necessary. Hebbal Junction is best avoided throughout the day at any point of time.

[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Still confused where exactly this crack is! Multiple media outlets mention 'Airport to Hennur' which is nearly at ground level, i.e. the sweeping left turn from Esteem Mall to Manyata/KRP but the picture in the article below shows what looks like the elevated BLR city to Hennur loop

I received this via WhatsApp, apparently everything is hunky-dory, that's just a construction joint. Fingers crossed.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by FURY_44

Reach the Hebbal junction from BEL Circle, and take the jam packed left arm which connects you towards Mekhri Circle.

There was a time when the BEL Circle itself was considered way out of city limits and only exclusively for employees of BEL I remember going there and towards Yelahanka, as a kid, the sorry state of roads in the late 90's.. it was almost like travelling on the moon.

After going there nearly a decade later we were shocked, I guess BIAL resulted in tremendous changes to north Bangalore, so much that the area transformed into a traffic mess with hotels and business establishments all through the route. Vidyaranyapura and Sanjay Nagar were jokes in that era and apparently some distant relative sold something like 15,000 sq.ft land of there for like Rs.200 per sq.ft.. today the gain would've been ten times more to say the least.

I grew up in Lavelle Rd in what is called old Bangalore today.. school was nearby and central areas were easily accessible and Cubbon Park was a big attraction. Those times even that area was laughed upon by big city dwellers but today with UB City right in the middle, the prices there have skyrocketed (we sold that flat for under Rs.2000/- per sq.ft almost 2 decades ago).

[Acharya]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

The problem was that IT companies proliferated in such large numbers and so suddenly that the city never had a chance to prepare for it in advance or even after, it almost seems like overnight the IT parks like Manyata, EGLP, CBP, RMZ Infinity etc cropped up like mushrooms. This made people to consider areas like Whitefield, Sarjapur Road, Hebbal etc as living areas even though they really aren't.

Is it really an overnight development, think again. In 2002-03, ORR had groves of coconut on both side between Sarjapura Junction & KR Puram. By 2007-08, only two-three tech parks were operating including ecospace. Now in 2018, OOR is choco-block with tech parks & apartments. It took well over 15 years of complete govt apathy, lack of planning & greed, which resulted in the mess that Bangalore is in today.

How difficult it is to build few more layouts like HSR on the outskirts and expand the city in planned manner? How difficult is it to initiate & complete PRR, is it rocket science to build drains which carry normal rain water?

We all know the answer.

It is so easy to blame the growth of IT industry, but think about it - any other country/city would give everything possible get the kind of growth Bangalore has experienced. It is such an exhilarating economic boom, with millions getting direct & indirect employment. Business booming and taxes filling the govt coffers.
Sadly, people in govt are cursing the same hand which is feeding them, because they failed to do their own job.

Slowly but surely, the golden goose is being killed

[FURY_44]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

There was a time when the BEL Circle itself was considered way out of city limits and only exclusively for employees of BEL I remember going there and towards Yelahanka, as a kid, the sorry state of roads in the late 90's.. it was almost like travelling on the moon.

After going there nearly a decade later we were shocked, I guess BIAL resulted in tremendous changes to north Bangalore, so much that the area transformed into a traffic mess with hotels and business establishments all through the route. Vidyaranyapura and Sanjay Nagar were jokes in that era and apparently some distant relative sold something like 15,000 sq.ft land of there for like Rs.200 per sq.ft.. today the gain would've been ten times more to say the least.

I grew up in Lavelle Rd in what is called old Bangalore today.. school was nearby and central areas were easily accessible and Cubbon Park was a big attraction. Those times even that area was laughed upon by big city dwellers but today with UB City right in the middle, the prices there have skyrocketed (we sold that flat for under Rs.2000/- per sq.ft almost 2 decades ago).

I can so relate to the points which you have mentioned, the ORR wasn't even a tarred road before heck there was no road at all after Hebbal towards Tumkur Road.

Yes all thanks to BIAL, we had bought a 30/50 site for a mere 20k in the 90's and now the price stands somewhere around 90L if not more. Although it brings the value, sad that we are not able to enjoy it.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by Acharya

Is it really an overnight development, think again. In 2002-03, ORR had groves of coconut on both side between Sarjapura Junction & KR Puram. By 2007-08, only two-three tech parks were operating including ecospace. Now in 2018, OOR is choco-block with tech parks & apartments. It took well over 15 years of complete govt apathy, lack of planning & greed, which resulted in the mess that Bangalore is in today.

Delhi and Mumbai, when one looks historically, had about 3-4 decades of time to cope with a steady rise in population.. even then they have just about managed to keep up with infrastructure that is maybe 10% better than Bangalore. 15 years is nothing when it comes to readying infrastructure, though Bangalore has done an admirable job in coping, traffic wise and livability wise, lets give points where due.

How difficult it is to build few more layouts like HSR on the outskirts and expand the city in planned manner? How difficult is it to initiate & complete PRR, is it rocket science to build drains which carry normal rain water?

As I've already written in my post to which you've replied, Bangalore lacks in water drainage infrastructure since the birth of time. BBMP and BDA combined are one of the worst civic and infrastructure planning government agencies all-India. KEB/BESCOM was right down there in the power department as well but today they've improved a lot. We can also blame the rulers of the past 1.5 decades for playing a big role in destroying the city.. musical chairs is what comes to mind to describe the power-play for the ultimate seat here.

It is so easy to blame the growth of IT industry, but think about it - any other country/city would give everything possible get the kind of growth Bangalore has experienced. It is such an exhilarating economic boom, with millions getting direct & indirect employment. Business booming and taxes filling the govt coffers.

I don't feel happy that business is booming and taxes are filling the coffers of the government, it lead to no direct benefit for the taxpayers who have to burn more petrol waiting in traffic, have to pay way more taxes than ever before, have to spend more time inside than ever before and effectively see their freedom get killed in the name of better earnings. Bangalore was a middle-class city and yet I can't remember people who weren't happy enough with what they had. I also admit that my income comes from these very American companies, but personally, the only happy moments for me as far as this city is concerned, was before this I.T boom. I don't quite give money as much importance as the world does in general, I guess.

Slowly but surely, the golden goose is being killed

Quite right, the very adage of "golden goose" has a secretive meaning of exploitation, of trickery and of milking something to the last drop. If Bangalore is emblematic of the golden goose, then its better that the goose is no longer exploited for its golden eggs, or it is laid to rest so to speak.

Disclaimer : I am apolitical and liberal to the core, and I do not want to pick holes unnecessarily.. I am just a citizen of India who happens to like his city for what it was, than what it has become.