With bottlenecks on bothsides

After the down pour on Sunday evening, the traffic left many stuck on the road for hours together. Traffic jams and pools of water by the road side were a common sight everywhere.One of the problem areas was Old Airport Road after Marathahalli. However, the stretch between Namjoshi Road and Kengal Hanumanthaiah Main Road was particularly bad. Traffic was blocked for almost an hour on the road. Though on an ordinary day the road does see its own fair share of traffic during peak hours, the situation on Sunday however, was a nightmarish experience for most commuters.To start with the reason for the traffic jam in this area are the two bottlenecks at the beginning and the end of this road. After the junction where Namjoshi Road meets Old Airport Road, the roads are wide. But the width suddenly reduces to almost one fourth after passing the junction that connects Sandra Main Road and Namjoshi Road. The road only widens after Vijnananagar bus stop. The traffic from Kaggadasapura Main Road also adds to the already existing jam.“It took me 45 minutes to cross this stretch on Sunday evening. There was traffic pouring in from all sides. To make matters worse, many people were breaking the line and trying to over take from every side. As a result, it only lead to a further jam,” said Kamlesh, a resident of one of the apartments on Namjoshi Road. He further added that a few good Samaritans were standing in the rain and directing the traffic while the traffic police were not present at the spot.MLA for KR Puram constituency, Nandiesh Reddy confirms the problems associated with the road. “I too was stuck on Namjoshi Road for a long time on Sunday evening after the rains,” he said. When questioned about the solution for the traffic jam on the road, he said that he would speak with the traffic police and try to find a temporary solution to the problem. He also mentioned that this particular stretch was also a part of the road widening project. “A case was registered in the High Court regarding the widening of the road. Recently the high court has agreed to give permission to widen the road,” he added. However, the main hurdle here is that many of the houses and apartments are built very close to the road. As a result, there is hardly any scope for widening.He further mentioned that he is the process of appealing to the public to make way for amends. “Unfortunately those who preceded me were unable to foresee such a problem. Hence they could not incorporate the requirement for widening during their planning of this area. Apart from road widening, there is no other solution here, ” he said.When questioned about the uneven surface of the road, he said that he would take action immediately to solve that as well. B Muthanna, Deputy Commissioner of Police Traffic, East was in accordance with the requirement of traffic police inspectors and sub inspectors to manage the traffic. “We will  deploy inspectors and sub-inspectors at the required junctions on that stretch of road for smooth flow of traffic,” he said.