[rohanjf]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

Alert: Most of the road from Shell to GE junction has been dug up on one side. And its not re-done properly. Very very slow moving traffic. More because the road has narrowed down from 2 lane to 1 lane.
I scraped the underbody of my Beat at many places while travelling on this road on Monday.
I would still recommend taking the Kundanahalli route, albeit the multiple gaps in divider + the major jam at the Kundanahalli signal.

Personal recommendation: Take the ORR. Its definitely a longer route than your existing route, but its almost a free flowing traffic with decent road condition.

Oh yes. Borewell road and Nallurahalli stretch till GE is dug up on one side. If I reach that road by 8 AM, I do not get any traffic, so I can go through easily (I stopped slowing down on potholes and unnecessarily built speed breakers long ago). The problem is when one gets stuck in one traffic jam. The delay simply propagates from one bottleneck to another, exponentially increasing your travel time

By the way, I have some kind of phobia I guess. I am always scared to drive on ORR. I fear that bikers and jaywalkers can come in my path any time. I also get thoroughly confused in the absence of lane dividing lines.

But when I am driving on 6 laned highways (e.g., in TN), I am very happy. I stick to the middle lane at 80-90 KMPH. Let the maniacs and those who are in a hurry overtake me from left or right, I don't care! I wish I could do that on ORR.

By the way, our CM was quoted saying he plans to tour the city to evaluate the damage to the roads. I hope he does not restrict himself to MG road, Majestic and surrounding areas. The arterial roads, such as ORR, need immediate attention.

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

Oh yes. Borewell road and Nallurahalli stretch till GE is dug up on one side. If I reach that road by 8 AM, I do not get any traffic, so I can go through easily (I stopped slowing down on potholes and unnecessarily built speed breakers long ago). The problem is when one gets stuck in one traffic jam. The delay simply propagates from one bottleneck to another, exponentially increasing your travel time.

Please be careful on the uneven earth on this stretch. There are couple of nasty potholes which have come up since the dug up covering with mud and sand has washed away !!
After 3 years of travelling on this route, I am used to the speed breakers and know exactly at which point the height is the least, so do some zig zag and go over them.

By the way, I have some kind of phobia I guess. I am always scared to drive on ORR. I fear that bikers and jaywalkers can come in my path any time. I also get thoroughly confused in the absence of lane dividing lines.

True story. Absolutely madness on the ORR. No lane discipline whatsoever. No marked lanes either. I stick either to the left or the right most lane so that I can keep my eyes focussed on only one ORVM. But then, I don't always blame pedestrians for crazy crossings. There are no high iron barricades on the divider to stop them from crossing anywhere. Neither are Footover Bridges or Underpasses. But still overall, it is relatively peaceful if you cruise at 70kmph.

By the way, our CM was quoted saying he plans to tour the city to evaluate the damage to the roads. I hope he does not restrict himself to MG road, Majestic and surrounding areas. The arterial roads, such as ORR, need immediate attention.

Lame question, but who is the current CM of KA ? I have lost track of CMs' in KA. Come, Do Scam, Make Money, Go Away. Nevertheless, he will do rounds of areas of his interest only. Roads on which he travels regularly. Mostly, the Central Business District (CBD) of B'lore. Who cares where the IT professionals are suffering, atleast the Govt. is happy with the generated revenue and high end cars they buy with our money.

[shankar.balan]

I think I inadvertently broke the traffic light at Jakkasandra this morning while turning into the Aishwarya supermarket road!

Following a lady on a scooter all my concentration was on the road and I did not observe the light and just went with the flow...

All the vehicles behind had stopped but me, a polo and this lady went through. I noticed all the fellows behind me had stopped just as I took the right turn into the Aishwarya road.

I guess if I get served a notice I will quietly pay up!

[ankan.m.blr]

The Bellandur lake road which goes towards Yemlur from Bellandur is deteriorating day by day. Due to the construction of the massive Orchid Lakeview project along the lake, a lot of heavy duty construction vehicles ply on that road all day long. the road surface is going from bad to worse. These big vehicles observe zero road manners in the winding narrow road. Specially at night, sometimes concrete mixture trucks ply without headlights or on the wrong side of the road. Its a nasty surprise to a driver to find these trucks head-on at a blind turn. Half an hour back, an indica cab crashed to a truck carrying bricks in this road section. The front of the cab suffered major damage; the driver survived unscathed thanks to seat-belt. No passengers were there fortunately. I helped the cab driver push the vehicle at the shoulder of the road. No damage to the truck as usual.

In other news, T-BHPians who travel to Old Airport road through Bellandur - Yemlur, please remember that Bellandur 11th cross will be closed for few days (From Saturday/Sunday) to erect stage to observe Ganesha Chaturthi celebration activities.

Expect heavy traffic congestion in that route. Please take the alternate route in the second pic. Its a narrow but drivable road.

[mannubhai]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

I will stop using narrow and empty village roads until next week.

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

In other news, T-BHPians who travel to Old Airport road through Bellandur - Yemlur, please remember that Bellandur 11th cross will be closed for few days (From Saturday/Sunday) to erect stage to observe Ganesha Chaturthi celebration activities.

There is nothing communal about my post, its just an anguished Bangalorean uttering his frustrations as no one else would even bother to listen .

Why should the roads be blocked for weeks together for a festival ? Cant they be using grounds instead of roads ? Be it a religious festival or a house-warming, the roads are blocked. Cops never seem to bother, instead, you can see traffic cops managing traffic through this illegally blocked roads.

Question is ; Is it not illegal to block roads for private/religious functions ? If its legal, some body is granting permission to block the "right of movement" , a basic right as per constitution ? Can i host a rock concert on such a pocket road by blocking it ?

Frustrating

[binand]

Originally Posted by mannubhai

Question is ; Is it not illegal to block roads for private/religious functions ?

Indeed, there is a judgment by the Kerala High Court that bans these. The various political parties in Kerala raised big stinks but the court did not relent. Then they implemented the SOP, which is to legislate an exclusion for politicians. The HC stayed this, saying it is unconstitutional. The state government has appealed in the Supreme Court - we can hope that the final decision will be in favour of us road users, and will be implemented all over India by RTOs and traffic police (with the same diligence seen during the implementation of the sunfilm ban).

[ankan.m.blr]

Well, in our 'god fearing' country, no political party will oppose any issue remotely related to religious practices. And no amount of legislation and law enforcement can bring in a change in public mentality, unless it comes from within each and every one of us.

[shankar.balan]

I notice these last so many years in Bangalore, especially in the newer layouts, that these people who construct houses seem to have similar behaviour patterns:

1. They indiscriminately use the public roads for construction debris and detritus.
2. Construction labourers move in en masse and become squatters in the neighbourhood. These people use the open air facilities for their various bodily functions and ablutions,on the rare occasions that they indulge in the latter pursuit.
3. All sorts of vehicles of different types especially lumbering huge trucks, start plying around at odd hours lading and unlading things and generally creating a nuisance with loud voiced conversations taking place at late hours.
4. Bore wells invariably get dug, lowering the water table and the work starts at about 5 am in the morning and ends around 11pm - a clear violation of the law as well as inconceivably, unimaginably high noise pollution which the other denizens of the area are forced to suffer. 'Swalpa Adjust Maadi' syndrome.
5. Most times the 'constructor' belongs to either one of two specific communities who have mighty numbers in this region.
6. Most of these blokes appear to be politically very well connected, dress in whites or derivatives thereof and drive large expensive SUV's chauffeured by a certain class of character that can only be described as 'near lumpen' and who inspires fear and dislike.
7. Most of the buildings appear to be clear cases of building violation as per the existing rules...inadequate set back on all sides, creating a system of 16 apartments on a 60x40 sized site, with open air staircases running along the outside, indiscriminate tree chopping etc.
8.Every square inch of the site is concreted.
9.Once construction is done, the horrid left over debris is never cleared.
10.Then comes the Housewarming and the blockage of the whole road for about 2 days with their shamianas etc.
11.The actual day of the function brings many people in many cars, each bigger and fancier than the next. Food and srinks get served in those nasty styrene plates and cups, which are always discarded on site. The food typically gets served on an empty site if one is handy.
12. Post the function, there is usually tons of left over food debris, containers, receptacles and other muck left lying around, invariably for days together till the garbage chap deigns to pick it up...

During all this tamasha which covers approximately one calendar year or fourteen months from start to finish, no neighbour dares to raise even a squeak or a peep at the intolerable inconveniences that they are forced to put up with! Perhaps, it is quid pro quo, for the inconvenience they caused when they were constructing! All in all it seems like an endless loop!

Sorry for the rant, but truly these are my observations...

[Ford5]

@Shankar Balan,

I have observed the same in other Indian cities too. But yes in bangalore it is excessive as "new money" brings in a varied class of people.

[Mpower]

Have they been removing the time counters at traffic lights?

I was in BLR in July and noticed that the counters were not as abduntant as before.

I think it was a hugely beneficial for people to know how much time they have before it goes green. Switching off engines leads to lower noise and air pollution...although its annoying to see some people taking off with 2s to go.

[Soumyajit9]

I am typing this since I am still alive !!

I have been riding to office since the last 1 month. BTM Lake Road - Ecospace, ORR.

First Rant on Traffic Situation:
Yesterday's (Ganesh Puja) Statistics - Time Taken - 20mins.

Today's Statistics:
BTM Lake Road - Sarjapur Junction - 15mins
Sarjapur Junction - Ecospace - 35mins - On Bike !!!
This has become normal. So I have nothing left to say.

Second Rant on Road Condition:
I ride a 9 yr old Yamaha Libero, which does a max speed of 50kmph.
I was coming down the Bellandur flyover behind couple of buses and cars, at a speed of not more than 10kmph in 2nd gear.

The moment I reached the foot of the flyover, I was thrown into a pond full of brown water. Oh yes, that crater is not a crater, its a pond. And then struggling to navigate my bike, I managed to ride out of the pond, my shoes wet and my pants with spray of brown colour. I am still in a state of shock, what if I was doing that 50kmph on my bike ? What if I had a faster bike with 80kmph speed ?
I don't have a picture of that pond in the middle of the road. I will click a picture soon.

When will the civic authorities learn ? When some soul like me falls into this pond and dies ?
Pathetic !! Horrendous !!
Criminal case should be initiated against the concerned authority/person, pressing charges of Attempt to Murder.


Simply LOL on the CM's B'lore road trip. As expected he didn't bother to check the ORR IT Corridor. ROTFL.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/22406837.cms

Originally Posted by rohanjf

By the way, our CM was quoted saying he plans to tour the city to evaluate the damage to the roads. I hope he does not restrict himself to MG road, Majestic and surrounding areas. The arterial roads, such as ORR, need immediate attention.

[srishiva]

It will be criminal waste of money fixing the un-fixable roads. The people in power, their connected contractors would be more than happy to start fixing them. Roads should be done the right way else without drainage etc, its money in the pot hole.

Although I should say, older parts of Bengaluru are so much better compared to eastern areas. It has to do with nobody cares attitude. The City does not belong to anyone here anyway.

[girimajiananth]

Originally Posted by Mpower

Have they been removing the time counters at traffic lights?

I was in BLR in July and noticed that the counters were not as abduntant as before.

I think it was a hugely beneficial for people to know how much time they have before it goes green. Switching off engines leads to lower noise and air pollution...although its annoying to see some people taking off with 2s to go.

Not sure if they are removing , but they are not maintaining it for sure . I was waiting to cross the road at a signal and happened to talk to a traffic constable . I asked him about the LED counters , he told me that they are very expensive and hence removing all the defunct ones and not replacing them with new counters. Not sure how far this is true.

[ankan.m.blr]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

I am typing this since I am still alive !!

I have been riding to office since the last 1 month. BTM Lake Road - Ecospace, ORR.

First Rant on Traffic Situation:
Yesterday's (Ganesh Puja) Statistics - Time Taken - 20mins.

Today's Statistics:
BTM Lake Road - Sarjapur Junction - 15mins
Sarjapur Junction - Ecospace - 35mins - On Bike !!!
This has become normal. So I have nothing left to say.

Second Rant on Road Condition:
I ride a 9 yr old Yamaha Libero, which does a max speed of 50kmph.
I was coming down the Bellandur flyover behind couple of buses and cars, at a speed of not more than 10kmph in 2nd gear.

The moment I reached the foot of the flyover, I was thrown into a pond full of brown water. Oh yes, that crater is not a crater, its a pond. And then struggling to navigate my bike, I managed to ride out of the pond, my shoes wet and my pants with spray of brown colour. I am still in a state of shock, what if I was doing that 50kmph on my bike ? What if I had a faster bike with 80kmph speed ?
I don't have a picture of that pond in the middle of the road. I will click a picture soon.

When will the civic authorities learn ? When some soul like me falls into this pond and dies ?
Pathetic !! Horrendous !!
Criminal case should be initiated against the concerned authority/person, pressing charges of Attempt to Murder.


Simply LOL on the CM's B'lore road trip. As expected he didn't bother to check the ORR IT Corridor. ROTFL.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/22406837.cms

I crossed that flyover at 13:00 PM. Saw most of the pothole area(its really like a swimming pool) was getting covered with dirt+mud/soil+loose stone-chips. 2 traffic cops overseeing 1 laborer. I am 100% sure this temp covering of the pothole will vanish in the first few minutes of next rain session (might be today itself).

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

I crossed that flyover at 13:00 PM. Saw most of the pothole area(its really like a swimming pool) was getting covered with dirt+mud/soil+loose stone-chips. 2 traffic cops overseeing 1 laborer. I am 100% sure this temp covering of the pothole will vanish in the first few minutes of next rain session (might be today itself).

Forget rain mate. It would be gone after 3 Volvos pass over them.
The need to immediately fix up the source of the water logging - Bad levelling of the road / Drainage choked.
Then they need to barricade the road and tar it well (level it well) for atleast 300mts, not just fill up the craters. Its equally dangerous going over those non-levelled tarred up potholes !!

Not to mention, a brand new Chevy Sail was stuck in one of those craters yesterday at around 3:45PM. The fellow struggled for about 5 mins to get over it. Seemed like a newbie driver though.
Saw a Black i20 with LTD on the hatch door crossing that scene. Anyone owning up the spotting at that time and location.