[ashis89]

Originally Posted by guyfrmblr

My only intention to go with a Crossover last year was to negotiate the potholes and humps but looks like I need to go with something that has more ground clearance next time. Maybe a monster truck.

Past 1 week, I have been thinking the same - ideal replacement for Bangalore would be Thar or maybe a spare JCB in the garage.

[Vid6639]

Got this as a whatsapp forward:

When Tipu was defeated in 1799, it is said his treasures were buried in Bengaluru.
The BWSSB, BESCOM & BBMP are to this day digging for it.

[rrk]

Originally Posted by guyfrmblr

Yes, Bannerghatta road (well, almost the entire city) is in absolute shambles. I made a mistake of driving in the so called left lane in front of Brand Factory near Bilekahalli and the left wheel got into some kind of monster crater. As soon as the wheel came out of the first crater, it went inside another deeper crater and the underbelly had a slight scrape. The driver of a BMTC behind me saw this and started avoiding the craters. Maybe he thought even his bus would scrape it’s underbelly



My only intention to go with a Crossover last year was to negotiate the potholes and humps but looks like I need to go with something that has more ground clearance next time. Maybe a monster truck.

Ouch!!! Can imagine what would be going thru your mind when you scrapped the belly. BTW, I narrowly missed this crater today. I drive Figo with notorious GC and headlights. On the side note, I was reading an article which says there is only one AE for every ward who needs to make sure civic amenities. Looks like we will have to live with unscientific speed breakers and potholes for more time. Hope KA govt is listening

[_chikku]

There will be no respite for ORR travelers till metro is complete. That is the reason government asked companies working off ORR to look into extending WFH to next year at least.

[fordday]

Originally Posted by _chikku

There will be no respite for ORR travelers till metro is complete. That is the reason government asked companies working off ORR to look into extending WFH to next year at least.

Ouch! Our office starts from tomorrow, 22nd Nov.
Hybrid model, 3 days office, 2 days wfh. Ours is located in that notorious Ecoworld.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by drivingme.crazy

Outer Ring Road has become pathetic. While metro construction has blocked most of the road, whatever remaining is full of potholes. Came across an accident spot today morning (near Rainbow Children's Hospital). Seems ORR is back in business.

Why is the service one-way towards Rainbow hospital? If it was 2-way it would help vehicles joining ORR towards KR Puram. Now they have to do a U-turn and one more U-turn at the ISRO junction. Wouldn't it also help reach the hospital faster?

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Why is the service one-way towards Rainbow hospital? If it was 2-way it would help vehicles joining ORR towards KR Puram. Now they have to do a U-turn and one more U-turn at the ISRO junction. Wouldn't it also help reach the hospital faster?

BBMP has ensured that roads in front of all hospitals (Rainbow, Sakara, Columbia Asia Sarjapur, St Johns, etc) are made one way and/or there are no gaps in the median so that people get time to reach heaven en route instead of getting fleeced by the hospitals

[balenoed_]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Why is the service one-way towards Rainbow hospital? If it was 2-way it would help vehicles joining ORR towards KR Puram. Now they have to do a U-turn and one more U-turn at the ISRO junction. Wouldn't it also help reach the hospital faster?

I don't think it is a one way. Just two days back I had to to this very thing that you said, join ORR towards KR Puram and coming from Alpine eco road. I was planning for a double U-turn but then noticed there is no one way sign board in the service road in front of Rainbow. Hence sneaked through that. Have also seen several vehicles plying through that.

[m8002?]

The Rainbow hospital service road has been one way for ages. They allow only the ambulances and other vehicles to visit the hospital for emergency. Atleast thats the way it was when I was travelling to my office in Whitefield in 2018 and 2019. So its not new.

Even with it being one way, the traffic piles up till the Soul Space fly over. Imagine the chaos if that section becomes 2 way. Believe me, you will save time going to ISRO and taking a U-turn than navigating that stretch if it becomes 2 way.

[anandhsub]

All service roads from KR Puram to Silk Board have been one way for a long time now.

The stretch in front of Rainbow is one of the first service roads to be made one way. The main reason we decided not to find an apartment at Alpine Eco when my wife worked at EMC 7 yrs back.

Usually I am not a fan of service roads being one way, they just add to the traffic given you need to cut across the ORR lanes twice to come back on the same side, but with the advent of the bus lane and the closing of most entries/exits on ORR this stretch has become very important because if you get into the service road at Mahadevpura this is the first entry back into the ORR. Add to it the people turning from Alpine Eco into ORR it is important to keep this free flowing particularly given it is right in front of the Hospital.

It is another matter that no one cares about it. However at peak hours the Traffic police do turn away people attempting to go further down from Alpine Eco road.


PS: Given how fast this thread has been updating the last couple of days can finally say Bangalore is back to normal!!

[mayukh42]

At Koramangala Wipro Park Jn, they have blocked the road from east due to road repair. As a result, the 1st Block signal is a mess for anybody joining from north.

And because the St. Johns - Krupanidhi - Madivala is made 2-way again, traffic now accumulates at Krupanidhi.

However, both 1st Block and Krupanidhi signals still have the same duration. I don't understand why the signal cannot be opened for a longer time when traffic is 2-3 times more. What is the point of having cops at the signal if they cannot alter the duration based on traffic volume?

[paragsachania]

Bangalore rains and a night to remember

I along with funkykar had driven to Shikaripura near Shivamogga yesterday to attend a wedding of a common friend. While the return journey all the way till Nelamangala was uneventful and rather stress-free despite of us entering Bangalore on a Sunday evening, what took us both my complete surprise was the sudden downpour that started near Makali (Himalaya Drug Co) on Tumkur road. The downpour was strong, steady and relentless which easily lasted for at least 45 minutes.

A broken down car and parked 2 wheelers causing a huge pile up:

We encountered the very first long snarl partly due to a broken down car on the fast lane (seen at 2:06) and majorly due to 2 wheelers parked below NICE road flyover (seen at 5:47) taking shelter from the downpour that were blocking almost all the lanes of this busy road leaving a gap good enough for a bus to squeeze through. This video captures the same in time lapse mode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdaLuVyai28

Water logging at maximum:

The plan was to drop funkykar at Nagasandra Metro Station on Tumkur road while I reach Yelahanka via internal roads. Due to this we did not take the elevated section of NBTL and this perhaps was the biggest mistake? What unfolded soon after we were nearing 8th mile junction is seen in this video. The main corridor was totally water logged and most cars were seen taking the service lane to escape driving in water while few others including me stuck the main road with high hopes that we will sail through.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abYNPWmvaVQ

Twice unlucky, success on 3rd attempt to reach home:

Since it was raining heavily, it was absolutely impossible for funkykar to get down. Also, since I wasn't on the service lane, the railings ensured that there was no way he could get onto the other side too. So we decided to drive into the city, I drop him after dinner and then reach my place at Yelahanka by which time I presumed that traffic would have eased and I will have a smooth home run.

Attempt 1:
While the rains had stopped post 22:00 when I left from Seshadripuram, I was greeted by the second downpour on KIAL expressway when I was closing in for the exit for Yelahanka on the elevated section. The rains were not a problem but the next big traffic jam right at the exit for Yelahanka was surely a shocker. I could notice gridlocked traffic from the top and safely assumed that this was certainly not a road I would take even if I successfully managed to get onto the service road.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9VX_KHSr_w&t=74s

Attempt 2:
I decide to continue ahead on the KIAL expressway and plan to now try getting into Yelahanka via Nitte Meenakshi road that passes behind Yelahanka Airforce station. While I noticed from the top that buses were trying to enter this road, I wasn't ready to get greeted with another jam on the service road here, apparently due to water logged entry and 2 buses stuck against each other.

The cabbie first gestured that there was no chance to enter that road. So I turn my lights to parking mode and let him go. Next the conductor of this inter city bus (even this bus had to enter here) confirms that I can't go and also helps the bus take reverse following which I also decide to turn back and now decide to enter Yelahanka via the next one - MVIT college road (opposite to A2B).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KNDN5I-gI0

3rd time lucky:
I drove ahead and exited for MVIT college road. I was lucky that there was no jams but way ahead there were quite a few cars tagging along a BMTC bus trying to enter Yelahanka from various alternate roads. The roads near MVIT college were waterlogged too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbiqPskY96I

Finally, I managed to reach by a little before 23:00 hours after a roller coaster ride witnessed one of the heaviest and craziest downpour in recent times and driving through waterlogged roads.

[srini1785]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

..
Finally, I managed to reach by a little before 23:00 hours after a roller coaster ride witnessed one of the heaviest and craziest downpour in recent times and driving through waterlogged roads.

It started at 6.00PM and lasted till 10.00PM. Never seen anything like this. The Allalasandra lake has overflowed. Few camera crew were seen today morning near the railway overpass near Jakkur filming the whole show.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by srini1785

It started at 6.00PM and lasted till 10.00PM. Never seen anything like this. The Allalasandra lake has overflowed. Few camera crew were seen today morning near the railway overpass near Jakkur filming the whole show.

What surprises me is that I went to the airport last night/today morning around 3am. The roads were dry in many stretches and no water-logging even at the usual spots. I got some rains Yelahanka onwards till Devanahalli and again on the return leg too. But airport was mostly dry and so was the city. Seems Bangalore roads/drains are not (yet!) good enough to hold water beyond couple of hours.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by srini1785

It started at 6.00PM and lasted till 10.00PM. Never seen anything like this. The Allalasandra lake has overflowed. Few camera crew were seen today morning near the railway overpass near Jakkur filming the whole show.

While it started, I was near 8th Mile cross and while I reached home at 11pm, it was still raining quite heavily. However, the second installment of the rains were only from around Jakkur and lasted all the way till Home.

Originally Posted by ashis89

What surprises me is that I went to the airport last night/today morning around 3am. The roads were dry in many stretches and no water-logging even at the usual spots. I got some rains Yelahanka onwards till Devanahalli and again on the return leg too. But airport was mostly dry and so was the city. Seems Bangalore roads/drains are not (yet!) good enough to hold water beyond couple of hours.

From my experience on yesterday and if you carefully see the videos, you will notice that the problem is exactly what you have mentioned. Not enough drains for accumulated water to flow and coupled with this, all the water from elevated sections fall on the roads below resulting in excess water and less routes to flow out. This was the reason for water logging on Tumkur road too where on both sides of the main road below elevated section, there was hardly proper drains for water to flow out while water from elevated section kept flowing like water falls constantly.

The problem specifically to Yelahanka is also the Railway under bridge in old town. This one gets water logged even for the smallest of downpour. So all those who are entering Yelahanka via KIAL expressway by taking the exit are greeted with this water logging and as soon as they realise this, there is zero escape from this except reversing and this is what caused the gridlock at the Yelahanka entry.