manoj

Sarjapur Road is the new magnet for construction and corporate activity. But its condition is pathetic. S Kushala’s ride through this congested and badly maintained stretch was nightmarish.

Old Bangalore has not disappeared; it has moved here. So screams a huge billboard put up by a land developer on Sarjapur Road off Wipro corporate office. Once considered the fringes of Bangalore, Sarjapur Road is now the emerging “future Bangalore”, with a spurt in development, be it housing or spread of and BPO firms.

This stretch is dotted with under-construction residential complexes and villas and the land value has gone through the roof. With the feverish construction activity has come the haphazard growth and chaos.


Identified as one of the important corridors carrying high-density traffic, Sarjapur Road is very complicated in nature. While the actual stretch runs from St John’s Hospital up to Kaikondanahalli, which traverses up to Sarjapur town in a V-shaped fork connecting Agara Junction-Outer Ring Road-Marathahalli, Sarjapur Road also takes the huge volume of spill-over traffic from Hosur Road.

Among the three roads, the stretch from Agara to ORR-Marathahalli is the most crowded, dominated by heavy vehicles during morning peak hours and a flurry of BPO vehicles during evening and night hours. According to the latest survey, the Outer Ring Road from Agara connecting Marathahalli handles about 8,600 PCUs per hour and is one of the busiest corridors in the ORR.

Since the service roads are not up to the mark, traffic is always on the main road. Also, developmental activity — housing constructions and mushrooming of IT/BPO firms — is further adding to the chaos.

The road from Agara to Sarjapur is being widened till the Wipro office. After that, the road’s condition is pathetic. On the face of it, it looks like any other village road — bumpy, dusty, potholed and, of course, without a trace of bitumen. This stretch beyond Wipro office too is important: What many don’t realise is that it is a state highway connecting Mulbagal, Attibele-Hosur and Devanahalli.

“The road has not been repaired for more than a decade now. I don’t remember ever seeing this road with the black bitumen coating. After Wipro authorities made noise two years ago, the road was done up to their office and not beyond that,’’ says Raju, a tea vendor in Carmelaram Gate near Dommasandra.

It is true. Not an inch of the road beyond Wipro is motorable. A few years ago, when IT czar Azim Premji created a din over the pathetic condition of Sarjapur Road, the government was caught unawares. It took some time for the authorities to locate under whose jurisdiction Wipro office and the road was located.

Records were pulled out and then came out the mess: Wipro office on Sarjapur Road is not within the designated IT belt — Whitefield or Electronic City. The place where Wipro office is situated falls under Doddakannalli gram panchayat and half-a-kilometre away the area is under Bellandur gram panchayat. Sarjapur Road is maintained by the public works department, but the BDA approves building plans and layouts.

Reacting to Premji’s outburst, the government formed Sarjapur Road Task Force, entrusted the task to the PWD secretary, released funds and the stretch was metalled.

Travel on the 5-km stretch of Sarjapur Road between Wipro office and Dommasandra on a two-wheeler, and it will truly be a back-breaking and nerve-wracking experience!


Accidents In Numbers
The Problem

• Jakkasandra to KSRP office: It is a two-way road which is narrow and cannot handle high-density traffic.
• Koramangala I block junction: Too crowded.
• Agara Lake junction: Drain work is on and the road has been temporarily made one-way.
• Four-lane road from Agara to Marathahalli: Too narrow for high-density traffic.

And the Solution

The Agara Lake junction road is being made oneway as drain work is in progress. Once work is completed, the road will be free PWD is building a link road from Sarjapur Road to Hosur Road via Dommasandra and Chandapura Cross. This will ease congestion Road construction from Sarjapur Road to Naganathapura is in progress which will bring down congestion.

Author:S Kushala
Article Source: http://epaper.timesofindia.com (Bangalore Edition)
Date Of Publish: 09-Nov-06

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