[dark.knight]

I think in 3 days it has rained more than 3 monsoons put together. I also hope we get a small break from tomorrow, for about a 100 years. I've never liked rains and the cold it brings in and this has been ridiculous. Severe traffic backlogs, roads torn up like there has been an earthquake, senseless drivers becoming even more senseless, power-cuts, sheer lack of street-lighting, this is traffic anarchy at its very worst. The 2 wheelers & autos have become a mobocracy.

Lets put aside the logic of "rains are necessary" & "we need water" today, please.. rains are harbingers of ruination, period. I look forward to scorching hot sun, brightly lit afternoons & evenings and cotton tees from tomorrow. Enough is enough, this isn't Cherrapunji, or is it?

[Mik]

My daily drive is 21km from Kadugodi to Horamavu traversing Old Madras Road & Kr Puram. Yep! everyday I go out of bangalore and enter again to avoid Whitefield jams and to enjoy 12 km of 6 laned bliss
Depending on the time of the day it takes around 30-55 mins. My observation has been that if I reach KR Puram by 10.30 in the morning its generally free flowing on my side. Trucks enter the city after 11 AM.
Similarly, in the evening there is a slot between 6.45 and 7.30 when traffic from Manyata Tech park subsides and the trucks havn't yet reached KR Puram. Again, the traffic is manageable in Bangalore terms.

Previously, I was in Gurgaon and always thought that Bangalorians are hyping up the traffic situation. My observations after 3 months commuting from Marathalli - Horamavu and then from Kadugodi - Horamavu and some client visits to various parts of the city are

1. The volume is definitely higher, BUT, its manageable due to the people. I know for a fact that with half the vehicles and double the road Gurgaon waalahs will manage to gridlock the whole city. There have been umpteen occasions where disciplined Bangalorians and volunteers have cleared the roads with empathy towards others.

2. Even in worst of KR Puram jams, apart from errant taxi-wallahs, most people are somewhat ok with following lanes and using dippers and low beams. Keeps my BP down like anything. Even the Fortuner walahs (the alpha predator in gurgaon) behaves to some extent!

3. The Outer Ring Road is some kind of border. Inside, the old Bangalore exists with reasonably OK roads which are feeling the strain of traffic. Beyond the ORR, all hell breaks loose and the civic authorities couldn't care less. Digging up any recently laid piece of tarmac is part of their KRA it seems.

4. Late night doesn't equate less traffic at KR Puram. Due to a crazy project I have traversed KR Puram at all hours and moment the office-goers reach home, the inter-city buses and trucks take up place.

So, am I happy with the scene in Bangalore compared to Gurgaon, well lets just say I listen to the FM radio a lot more now

PS: The roads in old gurgaon post the rains are as bad as what we see in the Whitefield ITPL stretch. Even SUVs have sometimes failed to negotiate the roads after heavy rains at some places. (ref. Old Ggn - Infospace road)

[kavensri]

for those who are working in Manyata Tech Park, there is some good news. finally BDA has approved the skywalk construction and planning to start it by this month end.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Dreading my commute today from Shantinagar area to North Bangalore. Totally jammed outside and GMaps looking a solid red nearly everywhere :-(

I started from EC at 1600 today. Everything was fine till Adugodi-Bannerghatta Jn (Anepalya) from where I quickly assessed the traffic on Gmaps. It showed solid red from here all the way till MG Road.

I decide to turn left towards the cemetery and reach Shantinagar Hockey Stadium Jn. This was around 1640ish.

Waiting at this signal I realise that the entire Residency road is chocked till Brigade Road Jn and hence decided to reach GPO via Cubbon Park - Vidhana Soudha and that was indeed fast.

Mayhem started from GPO onwards all the way till Windsor Manor after which traffic was absolutely normal. One reason for this entire block was simple:

Almost 2 lanes of this stretch was waterlogged but not to an extent that folks had to runaway from this. Believe me, after passing this drenched section which was around 100 meters, again traffic started to flow smoothly.

Somehow, this is another example of herd mentality - One avoids, everyone starts avoiding.

In fact, at UVCE Junction also I saw a hapless constable waving his hands and requesting folks to take that lane where there was waterlogging for only 3-4 inches.

Originally Posted by praful

What is wrong with the traffic last few weeks folks?

I know its raining past couple of days, but even when its not been raining for a couple of hours why is everything so choked ?

Partial answer is in the above pic .

[Rajeevraj]

Slightly OT. Got this on WhatsApp just now. Assume it is made up, but hopefully will bring a smile to the traffic weary Bangaloreans.

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Dreading my commute today from Shantinagar area to North Bangalore. Totally jammed outside and GMaps looking a solid red nearly everywhere :-(

Took two hours for my commute from Banashankari to Amruthahalli (5.25-7.25). Goods shed road was jammed, Anand rao circle flyover towards race course road was completely chocked, so was palace road till chalukya. Beyond chalukya, it was relatively ok.

[NPV]

Part of what I expected tomorrow happened today itself due to the rain. I managed to leave office around 4 and got stuck near Prestige Shanthiniketan Apartment gate, near Zuri and then near Hoodi and the reason was the same - too much of water logging and too less road space with lots of digging work by BWSSB recently leaving only a part of the road usable
With the rains in the last few days, the moment of truth has arrived for the patch work/pothole filling done recently - most have opened up fully and probably become deeper
Luckily traffic was just building up and I managed to reach home by 5pm.
Tomorrow will be like Lord of the Rings in the Whitefield area, lets see who will dare to drive to work.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by NPV

Tomorrow will be like Lord of the Rings in the Whitefield area, lets see who will dare to drive to work.

Me

Spent three hours in the bus today since I thought of giving car a break. Not going to do that again. Let's see what worse can happen tomorrow. Bring it on Bengaluru! We shall see how far things can reach. Especially in my car route even if there's heavy rain, it added up only 20 mins to the total time I usually take, which I clearly noticed Monday and Tuesday. I used to reach home by 550PM whereas this week I reached at 610. But today in bus I reached at 8 thanks to the outer ring road mess.

I don't think people stayed home looking at the kind of traffic today. I will drive tomorrow, even if it adds 10-20 more minutes. Too bad I can't WFH else this whole week I would have stayed back actually.

[JD1]

The morning mess between the 2 devil flyovers (Central Mall and Ecospace) is getting worst. From top of Bellandur flyover in standstill morning traffic towards Marathahalli, I am seeing Ecospace flyover totally empty but traffic is backed up till Iblur junction. Reason been vehicles trying to get under the flyover (for going to Ecospace from rightmost lane) occupying ALL lanes thereby blocking ORR traffic wanting to take flyover! Today a white bus (didn't pickup whether it was Infant or other but similar one) cut from leftmost lane to rightmost lane and was almost perpendicular blocking the flyover entrance :( Really frustrating to see total lack of courtesy.

Originally Posted by pramodpk

The Nallurahalli road from Varthur road to Borewell road is relaid now.

You were a saviour today I was looking for some updates regarding this road and Chinnapanahalli railway track road and after seeing your update, tried it today and saved me immense time today. Thank You so much for posting this. First of all the road being new is of good quality compared to other roads going towards ITPL and then apart from it's own little choke point, it was mostly free in morning and evening. So saved me a lot of time v/s traveling via AECS/Graphite India Junction/SAP Labs road (and today evening SAP Labs road was bad from Vydehi till infinity and beyond so good I was able to avoid it!)
The road from Kundanahalli till entrance of Nalurahalli was dug up in leftmost lane so only 1 lane was usable but can bear that to reach with relatively less stress to ITPL.

[adi_gt]

Originally Posted by Mik

My daily drive is 21km from Kadugodi to Horamavu traversing Old Madras Road & Kr Puram. Yep! everyday I go out of bangalore and enter again to avoid Whitefield jams and to enjoy 12 km of 6 laned bliss
)

Buddy, I don't know where do you put up in Horamavu but if you are living after the railway crossing you could take internal routes without traffic to reach Kadugodi proper. It will be hardly half an hour of blissful drive with no jams.PM me, I can guide you on that.

[dark.knight]

"People going that way should switch jobs with the people going this way and everybody can leave their freaking cars in the garage." - Charlie Harper, Two & A Half Men

[ajmat]

Left Yelahanka at 430 and reached home at 7

Spent 45 min trying to join the elevated highway. Would have been faster to drive on beyond Airforce base, turn and come back

45 min at Hebbal flyover. Rather, queue began 3 km beforehand

1 hour between Windsor Manor and Raj bHavan

Saved time cutting through Cubbon PArk

Surprising ly everyone was patient and stayed within queues

[naveenroy]

Last night, it just took 1 hour from EC to Koramangala. Half the time it took on Monday. Woohoo. *dancing for joy*

I am not even going to attempt it on Friday. Will WFH.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by ajmat

45 min at Hebbal flyover. Rather, queue began 3 km beforehand

Its been a regular affair and Hebbal is now giving a tough time for Tin Factory/KR Puram as latest bottleneck to cross, both sides & almost any time of the day barring 11pm-6am!

I noticed traffic piled up on expressway as I descended from Hebbal towards Sahakarnagar and realised it was just about a little more than usual yesterday.

On a regular day, it takes an easy 20 minutes to cross from Colombia Asia to end of Hebbal flyover even at 1pm.

At 0630 am as well, there is a another bottleneck towards the city - All buses returning from Hyderabad stop between Esteem Mall and the start of the Hebbal flyover to alight passengers on the middle of the road only because the shoulder and a lane is filled with OLAs, Ubers and Autorickshaws. Adding to this are ORRCA and Regular BMTC Volvos parked to start their journey towards KR Puram and they park right here at this time of the day (And not at their designated starting point).

So, even when I am leaving home at 0630, I now happily take the Mathikere-IISc-Sankey Tank option to reach Cauvery Junction on Bellary Road. Much peaceful and always free flowing and no ruffian Airport cabs at least till here.

[hemanth.anand]

NH7/AH43 Update 20 minutes ago:

Hebbagodi junction (just opposite to Hebbagodi Police station) has seen an accident. Slow moving traffic.
With lots of people around the spot, couldn't make out if it was a pedestrian or a two wheeler guy who was affected.
Heard from people around that one person lost his life on the spot.
Hopefully it is cleared by now.
Traffic under Bommasandra flyover is as usual CRAZY! took 20 minutes to pass under the flyover and take a right turn