Bengaluru: The flyover up-ramp at Hebbal, which connects Nagawara and K R Puram to Hebbal and the heart of the city, will be closed for all vehicles except two-wheelers from Wednesday
This is owing to Bangalore Development Authority’s (BDA) construction of two separate lanes at the Hebbal flyover.
Two spans of the existing flyover ramp will be dismantled, and some road space will be cut off near the junction where the KR Puram upramp joins the main flyover lanes.
The BDA has already begun installing new crash barriers on the flyover to make the dismantling of spans and demolition of the extra portion of the flyover easier so that the new tracks can be built.
Bengaluru Traffic Police have instructed vehicles coming from Nagawara towards Mehkri to go below the flyover, take a right turn at Hebbal Circle, travel a little over a kilometre north, and take a U-turn before the Kodigehalli signal to join the service road and Hebbal flyover loop towards the city.
Two weeks ago, the traffic police had mulled the possibility of shutting the flyover up-ramp for all traffic movement but M N Anucheth, the Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) called this the "last resort" should other alternatives fail to work.
Alternative routes
KR Puram to city: IOC-Mukunda Theatre Road, Lingarajapuram flyover, and Nagawara-Tannery Road.
Hegde Nagar and Thanisandra: GKVK-Jakkur Road to join Hebbal flyover.
K R Puram to Yeshwanthpur: Travel below the flyover and go via BEL Circle and Sadashivanagar Police Station Junction.
Airport-bound vehicles from Hennur, HRBR Layout, Banaswadi, K R Puram and KG Halli: Hennur-Bagalur Road
Why the change?
Addressing the press on Tuesday, Anucheth said, "Bengaluru city has about 1.16 crore registered vehicles. During peak hours every day, we see 50 lakh to 60 lakh vehicles on city roads."
"Bengaluru has the highest number of private vehicles in the country, which impacts our traffic and increases congestion. Our focus, thus, is on traffic management and not enforcement," he said.
Besides the 28 adaptive signals being implemented by the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT), the Bengaluru Traffic Police will bring in 165 COSICOST AI signals developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). "This project will be completed in the next six to eight months. This will optimise signal timings," he said.