B'luru-Mysuru expressway: No end to traffic woes

Umar Sharieef | NT

Bengaluru: Nearly a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway, traffic violations and congestion are the main topics of discussion among users of the much-publicised project.

A lot of videos and photographs of the highways with traffic congestion and violations have already sparked a row, questioning the very purpose of the road project. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on March 12, inaugurated the expressway built at a cost of Rs 8,480 crores. But, a few days after the commuters started to use the stretch, they were faced with challenges – the first of which was flooding due to the rain.

However, the stretch continued to make the headlines in both state and national media for traffic violations and congestion. A random search on social media revealed that commuters had been irresponsible and allegedly tried to drive their vehicles without any sense of social responsibility, not knowing they are putting the lives of other commuters in danger.

Traffic congestiona concern

Recently, for mer CFO of Infosys, Mohandas Pai, took to Twitter and posted a picture of the expressway, with a caption, expressing his dissent over how the stretch is not monitored to prevent traffic congestion. His tweet, tagging Pratab Simha, Mysore MP, read, “Bad blockade on Mysore expressway. Nobody is monitoring. Please help”.

The MP, in a reply to him, assured a swift clearance of the blockade as the officials closed the main carriageway on the stretch for some official work. Commuters also fumed in anger that they were made to wait on the highway, which they were told would reduce the travelling time. A user named Raveesh said that the officials had blocked the main road from Maddur to Mandya and the travelling time got delayed by 25 minutes.

Several others shared the same opinion on the traffic congestion on the Mysore expressway. Another user named Ashish Mahendra wrote, “The worst is at Mysuru Entry! Wish they take up the link over road work ASAP and need a small flyover connecting to a nice road at the Bangalore entry point! The cross-over from the service road and highway affects a lot!" he said The 118 Km expressway was billed to reduce the travel time to 3 hours and 75 minutes, but the current situation tells just the opposite story.