[luvurride]

Originally Posted by ashwin.terminat

After the right from Purva Riviera, I barely travel a few hundred meters before I turn right. I did notice a lot of vehicles heading straight ahead, I didn't really tail them to find out. Relatively fewer take the right that I usually take.

I shall keep my eyes peeled tomorrow and look for any railway crossings I might have missed.

You didn't miss anything To join ITPL road through AECS layout you'll turn right much ahead. Only if you travel further about half a km you'll get to the crossing.
Anyway, this discovery of yours can also get pretty jammed up at times with cabs taking it. And when it's jammed, you are stuck for a long time as there is no way out!

[binand]

Originally Posted by ashwin.terminat

By the way, does anyone have an update on how the traffic situation was on Old Airport Road today?

I don't have first-hand experience, but I was keeping an eye on the situation as my office (and my home) is on Old Airport Road. Google Maps on my mobile started showing traffic jam (red: nearly immobile) all the way from the airport till Marathahalli by 5 PM. People who left offices in the evening were not even allowed to join the road on the pavement, so were stuck in the buildings.

It was all OK by the time I left office at around 7 PM or so.

[sansvk]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

The traffic jam will cause chaos on ORR and IRR too!


This is funny. These people are supposed to do this every single day, as this is their job!

And they did patch up some portions around Domulur and Command Hospital.

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by binand

I don't have first-hand experience, but I was keeping an eye on the situation as my office (and my home) is on Old Airport Road. Google Maps on my mobile started showing traffic jam (red: nearly immobile) all the way from the airport till Marathahalli by 5 PM. People who left offices in the evening were not even allowed to join the road on the pavement, so were stuck in the buildings.

It was all OK by the time I left office at around 7 PM or so.

ORR was one smooth drive yesterday when I drove thru at 5:30PM yesterday (from Doddanekundi to Bellandur, in that direction). So maybe the buildup must have started after that or maybe people anticipated it and changed their timings so it was not so bad?

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by joslicx

ORR was one smooth drive yesterday when I drove thru at 5:30PM yesterday (from Doddanekundi to Bellandur, in that direction). So maybe the buildup must have started after that or maybe people anticipated it and changed their timings so it was not so bad?

That route would not get affected by the PM Visit. None of the VIP convoys had to come via ORR at all. The traffic blocks were from Marathahalli towards HAL Old Airport, Manipal Hospital and beyond. And here again the traffic would be stopped/heavily controlled from the Air Port Road & Suranjandas Road Jn, Manipal Hospital, Indira Nagar 80 ft road Junction, Domlur etc.

[IronH4WK]

today the traffic wasn't all that bad, roads were pretty empty. reached office in 50mins as compared to 1.5hrs. what gives?

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

what gives?

Today is state govt holiday - so schools, college closed. Some companies have optional off.

[hamster]

Originally Posted by ashwin.terminat

By the way, does anyone have an update on how the traffic situation was on Old Airport Road today?

Left EGL yesterday at around 06:45 and was expecting a jam and was hoping to reach home at Hoodi by 08:30. But reached home at 07:45 itself.
There were a lot of people who were coming out of the Old Airport occupying almost half of the lane. Luckily I stuck to the right side of the lane and was moving ahead, though slowly. There was a jam near the Yemlur signal which took almost 20 mins to cross. After that it was a smooth drive. The usual jam at Marathahalli bridge all the way to Kundalahalli Gate signal was not there and it took me hardly 3 mins to cross from Marathahalli to Kundalahalli signal(a new record for me )

Originally Posted by ashwin.terminat

That said, I don't remember seeing any railway crossing en-route to ITPL Main Road. Sure, there were some bad roads, but I never did encounter a Railway Crossing anywhere. Am I missing something?

Believe you would have taken a right turn which goes through AECS Layout and then joins ITPL Main road near Brookfields or at CMRIT college.
There is a notorious junction there where a house seems to have been built encroaching the road. Have seen vehicles struggling to take the blind turns there, especially when there is another vehicle in the opposite direction. Be a bit careful about this.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by hamster

Believe you would have taken a right turn which goes through AECS Layout and then joins ITPL Main road near Brookfields or at CMRIT college.
There is a notorious junction there where a house seems to have been built encroaching the road. Have seen vehicles struggling to take the blind turns there, especially when there is another vehicle in the opposite direction. Be a bit careful about this.

I used this route when i used to drive my Ikon to my office in Whitefield. I realized how painful this S curve can be when i started taking the Scorpio along this route. Periodically this route also sees giant speedbreakers put up by local residents to avoid this route becoming a preferred route for all.

Stopped taking this route altogether once I discovered the joys of Varthur route for my commute, avoiding the ORR altogether.

[binand]

Originally Posted by sachinpk

The traffic blocks were from Marathahalli towards HAL Old Airport, Manipal Hospital and beyond.

it is quite a bad precedent to block off access to Manipal Hospital. Which are the alternative hospitals in a 3 km radius that has the kind of extensive emergency care facilities that Manipal has?

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by binand

it is quite a bad precedent to block off access to Manipal Hospital. Which are the alternative hospitals in a 3 km radius that has the kind of extensive emergency care facilities that Manipal has?

Couldn't agree more, but you're assuming VVIP security actually cares for the common man. I remember faintly there was a controversy during the last PM's tenure a couple years ago, where a hospital's entrance was blocked by the visiting PM's security and an emergency victim died in the ambulance outside the hospital gates. Not sure of of the city/hospital in question though.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by binand

it is quite a bad precedent to block off access to Manipal Hospital. Which are the alternative hospitals in a 3 km radius that has the kind of extensive emergency care facilities that Manipal has?

This is not some thing new which was done, which would set a precedent. It has been done before, and most likely would continue to be done. But such elaborate precautions are only for folks who have serious security threats (like PM, President etc.). A State Governor or Chief Minister would get an official convoy and route preference, but roads etc. may not be blocked. If I understand for Z+ category etc, travel on both directions are stopped. The PM would have reached his place of stay in around 10 minutes flat.

What I feel is that the police would have made alternate arrangements for hospitals etc. We have HOSMAT, St.Johns and the Air Force Command hospitals near by. We also have CMH at Indira Nagar. So critical cases (motor accidents etc.) can be handled by them.

[guyfrmblr]

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

today the traffic wasn't all that bad, roads were pretty empty. reached office in 50mins as compared to 1.5hrs. what gives?

Originally Posted by msdivy

Today is state govt holiday - so schools, college closed. Some companies have optional off.

I think the Dasara holidays for many schools have started from today. So expect smooth traffic atleast for next two weeks. I sometimes wonder how much difference it makes if just schools are closed. Atleast in my route, the traffic will be very smooth if the schools are closed. Else the erratic school bus drivers always make sure that they create trouble for all the users of the road.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by guyfrmblr

sometimes wonder how much difference it makes if just schools are closed.

The perfect combination would be a state holiday+school holiday . I don't expect IT companies to give much holidays any ways. What I observed is that many schools and IT companies generally start their day pretty much the same time. Hence right from around 0700Hrs there would be the mad rush of vehicles on the roads (umpteen school buses & techie crowd). The next push may be the state and central govt. staff who would reach office by 1000Hrs. My take is that many roads in Bangalore would have very thin crowds in the 1030Hrs to 1430Hrs window. Then the school closing time starts and chaos starts from there. By 1730 it is time for the office goers to head home.

[rajakumar]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Couldn't agree more, but you're assuming VVIP security actually cares for the common man.

This remains me of an incident during last year in Old Airport Road. I and few fellow drivers were booked for No Parking in front of Cloudnine hospital as we were entering the hospital one after the other. Even I was photographed with me sitting in the driver seat and driving the car. Later I found the reason for this weird behavior from the hospital management that some VVIP gave an earful to the traffic police for not keeping the traffic moving while he was passing that area.