[kvsriki]

What's the purpose of the small lane on the right side of the service lane of ORR? Is it for bicycles only? I see 3-wheels and sometimes even cabs driving in that lane!!!

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by kvsriki

What's the purpose of the small lane on the right side of the service lane of ORR? Is it for bicycles only? I see 3-wheels and sometimes even cabs driving in that lane!!!

It is supposed to be for bicycles only, but who is there to enforce it? Sometimes I see cyclists not using the lane. But hard to believe you saw cabs, cause the lane is very narrow for cars to enter.

[drive2eternity]

Originally Posted by kvsriki

What's the purpose of the small lane on the right side of the service lane of ORR? Is it for bicycles only? I see 3-wheels and sometimes even cabs driving in that lane!!!

As mentioned by Jaguar, those are cycle lanes, to showcase Bangalore is a cyclist friendly city and hence gets one step closer to being a 'smart city'. However, in real world they are used by two wheelers and autos to drive in the wrong direction.

Overall I pity the state of ORR. Make a narrow ORR to begin with. Make narrow service lanes around it. Narrow down the ORR further by making bus lanes. Narrow down the service lanes by making cycle lanes. So little real estate trying to retrofit so many purposes.
Ideally service lanes should be two way to remove the need of unnecessary U-turns which bring traffic on to the main carriageway but that's common sense, our administrators don't operate that way.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by drive2eternity

Make a narrow ORR to begin with.

Back then when it was built, I don't any of us could have confidently predicted that it would be too narrow one day. I remember teaching my cousin how to ride my Shogun in the middle of the day on that stretch...because it hardly had any traffic back then! Used to get pretty lonely at night and visiting the Innovative Multiplex seemed like going out of town.

I think the issue is how the ORR has become more or less a city road. If the government was going to give land to all the builders to come up with those mega IT parks, they should have also planned a metro line back then itself. I still think the size of the road is not the issue. And even if you somehow miraculously double the width of the road today, in another 10 years the vehicular traffic will cause it to seem to be too narrow again. The main issue is a lack of mass transport, and awful planning by the builders of the IT parks with just one entry and exit road all pouring into the ORR at around the same time every day.

[DRIVE_ADDICT]

Fix all the potholes, craters and heavily uneven surface of over bridges and underpasses, then nobody will rant on ORR even with bus lane and cycle lane. It is because of the pathetic road condition, people need to slow down, change lane and end up having horrible experience on ORR.
BBMP can be called as BumpyMP for giving us this horrible road experience in almost all part of this city.

[kvsriki]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

But hard to believe you saw cabs, cause the lane is very narrow for cars to enter.

Thanks, I rode in the left most side of the service lane a few days back, when I used the ORR after a long long time. Will use the designated lane now, though seems dangerous if someone comes from the opposite direction especially an autorickshaw.
Regarding seeing a cab, I might be misremembering and maybe it was just a few autorickshaws

During my time in Bangalore, I have seen the ORR go from being good during initial years after construction to horrible during the flyover constructions (especially the one in Bellandur) to manageable after all flyover constructions were done to the present state, which seems manageable even with metro construction, only due to the fact that the majority of IT companies are still not fully open.
Once the latest virus wave subsides and all those IT firms call back their employees to work from the offices, I am already envisioning that road will go back to it previously horrible/nightmare inducing state due to all the bottlenecks created for metro construction.

[atnyia]

Not a rant.

During the November unseasonal rain, the road from Sarjapura until the Decathlon railway overpass has been decimated. Travel time on this patch has increased from 12 mins to 20 mins. On the other side, the road after Decathlon to Iblur is more or less, well, an actual proper road now. Lots of feeding roads to ORR and services roads are getting laid.

Good roads are as much news in Bangalore as the uninterrupted power supply used to be in Gurgaon.

[ShreyG]

I have been in Mumbai for a week, driving across the length of the city (Panvel to Vashi to Goregaon, Santa Cruz, Kurla etc etc). Feeling extremely shortchanged by the quality of roads we have in Bangalore despite paying the highest road tax in the country.

This is my first time actually driving in Mumbai and I had only heard of horrible traffic here with broken roads et all but either I haven't been to those parts of the city or they don't exist. Even if that is the case, it does feel that motorists in Bangalore are being taken for a ride with the poor BTP actually taking more initiative to fix roads rather than BBMP.

Even the NICE bit of road around Bangalore has the exorbitant rates and current whitetopping activity makes it not so NICE to drive.
Bit of a rant because I know do believe that we in Bangalore probably have the worst of roads to drive on of any major city in India with the highest amount of tax.

Highways in Karnataka do make up for this but I guess the rant is more to do with mismanagement and lack of coordination between various gov bodies (BESCOM, BWSSB) who happily dig up a perfectly tarred road before actually thinking what work is to be done without any intention to relay the road.

[AtheK]

The only government department that works efficiently is the Road digging department, they are ready to dig even before any approval comes through, other departments should make a case study of them!!

[goandude]

Originally Posted by AtheK

The only government department that works efficiently is the Road digging department, they are ready to dig even before any approval comes through, other departments should make a case study of them!!

Totally agree with you. The Jack hammers and pneumatic cutters magically appear out of nowhere to dig up roads. While repair of roads takes eons. And when done offer a terrible surface.

Now I read that the Nelamangala flyover (elevated road) is closed for repairs

https://www.deccanherald.com/city/to...s-1064756.html

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by goandude

Now I read that the Nelamangala flyover (elevated road) is closed for repairs

https://www.deccanherald.com/city/to...s-1064756.html

Better budget for this closure. Had the misfortune to be stuck in a nearby area, which is normally peaceful. Even B7Rs were trying to use the narrow village roads. Total mayhem!

For example, this is now, i.e. 0845 on Sunday. Can you imagine the mess on a weekday and especially evenings etc.? Add the zillions of people driving back in the New Year .

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by goandude

Now I read that the Nelamangala flyover (elevated road) is closed for repairs

https://www.deccanherald.com/city/to...s-1064756.html

Confirmation of the same


Source: twitter page, Kuldeep Kumar, DC, Traffic, Bangalore West

[gtonsing]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Confirmation of the same
Attachment 2249561

Source: twitter page, Kuldeep Kumar, DC, Traffic, Bangalore West

Does this include the flyover from ORR / BEL circle side toward Gorguntapalya that goes over the railway bridge?

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by gtonsing

Does this include the flyover from ORR / BEL circle side toward Gorguntapalya that goes over the railway bridge?

No, this applies to only the Nelamangala to Peenya flyover. My sources tell me that there was ghastly congestion right from the NICE Road cloverleaf to almost the Basaveshwara bus stand / Metro depot area.

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

No, this applies to only the Nelamangala to Peenya flyover. My sources tell me that there was ghastly congestion right from the NICE Road cloverleaf to almost the Basaveshwara bus stand / Metro depot area.

My neighbor who commutes using her company bus from office in Nelamangala to home in Amruthahalli arrived 45 minutes late yesterday evening. she started at 6.15PM and arrived at 8.30 - 2hrs 15 minutes for a distance of 30kms out of which close to an hour was taken for the 4 Kms stretch under the closed flyover! The bus usually does not go over the flyover. They take left at Jalahalli cross and proceed via Ayyappa temple road - BEL , so may have escaped further delays.