Rs 350 cr plan to ease traffic in Bangalore

In an effort to decongest Bangalore city roads, the Karnataka government has chalked out a Rs 350-crore plan, to be implemented over the next five years. The state cabinet on Friday gave its approval for the implementation of the plan.

The project will be implemented by Bangalore City Police, Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limited and the Bangalore City Corporation.

Some of the features of the project include widening of existing arterial roads in the city, setting up of multi-level vehicle parking systems, creating bus-bays and dedicated bus lanes, banning movement of autorickshaws in core areas, integrating traffic management system, automating traffic signalling system and undertaking road infrastructure projects.

At present, the peak hour traffic speed in the city is 10 kilometres per hour. The project aims to increase the traffic speed to at least 20 km per hour.

"Bangalore has been suffering multiple problems due to poor planning. The B Track project is a long-term plan aimed at decongesting traffic and vehicular density in the central business districts of the city. The government intends to bring the project under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission," Karnataka's primary and secondary education minister Basavaraja Horatti told reporters. The minister pointed out that the vehicle population had risen to 26.65 lakh in the last 12 years.