Bangalore residents cry foul over widening

Why Coconut Grove Road, ask residents of this short stretch that the BBMP has earmarked for widening. The road does not show any signs of distress even during rush hour and is unlikely to see congestion even in the future. Civic authorities should leave the stretch alone and look for other fish to fry, they say.

This road figures at the tail-end of BBMP’s list of roads it proposes to widen. There is a reason for that, says Prabhakar GR, a businessman who runs a provision store. “Traffic was diverted here when the construction of the underpass on the 5th Cross was under way. Naturally, congestion was felt most hours of the day. It was then the road made into the notorious list,” he says.

Those days are far behind. With the construction complete, Coconut Grove Road became insignificant in the scheme of things here. Hardly any vehicles from Bellary Road take this route. It is only those moving from Vyalikaval and Sadashivnagar who prefer this road, says Prabhakar.

 “Even for these areas, there is an alternative road which is Nagappa street that connects Vyalikaval Road to Vinayaka Circle to Ist Main Sheshadripuram. Not many cars go that way because it is slightly congested,” he says.

Strengthening Nagappa Street would further take the load off Coconut Grove Road, which is not bad at all in the first place, if compared to the manically busy Sampige Road or Margosa Road which have been ‘conveniently’ left out of the list. Besides, it is normal for one or two crosses in an area with many such lanes to be busy for a few hours, he says.

Coconut Grove Road feels the heat when Kavery junction with its infamous Magic Box deals with congestion during rush hour. “A few vehicles stray in here when the usual routes they take are clogged. Also, buses are few, especially on Sundays. During the weekend, the entire neighbourhood sees an unusually high number of cars, thanks to Mantri Mall, the popular attraction that was added recently,” says Raghu BV, proprietor of the 40-year-old New Janardhan Bakery.

Raghu reaffirms that with the completion of the underpass, it has become a breeze for drivers to pass through here. “Earlier, because of the presence of the signal light at the Malleswaram Circle, the roads would seem lacking. But now that it has been eliminated, traffic is free-flowing. Besides, no heavy vehicles ply here, even buses are few. Widening would be a wasteful exercise,” he says.

Of course, the arrival of the Metro would give relief to most overworked roads in the area, he feels. Narasimha BY, a resident, is positive that the Metro would turn things around for all localities of the city, especially Malleswaram. He says that those returning to Rajajinagar from Mehkri Circle take this one-way road now but they would switch to Metro once it is launched.

"Widen Sankey Road and all these problems will be solved. Nobody will be harmed,” says he. Narasimha has called Malleswaram home for the last 50 years. “It is unfair that original inhabitants of the city are being asked to leave to accommodate outsiders. Let the government make separate colonies for them where they can live happily,” he says.

While Narasimha talks about the width of Sankey Road, Prabhakar points out that Link Road is falling woefully short of expectations of traffic originating at West of Chord Road. “The subway is 120ft wide. Link Road doesn’t match that width. That needs to change,” he says.

Murali V, who runs a medical store, says: “If this road is wider than it is now, plenty of motorists will prefer to take this road. But where will they all go? They will have to squeeze into Link Road. The junction where 5th Cross meets Link Road and Coconut Grove Road will thus become a bottleneck,” he says.
 Palike should better wait and watch the effectiveness of Metro before rushing to widening city roads, says Murali.