Annual cost of traffic menace on Outer Ring Road over $15 billion, reveals report

A report compiled by the Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA) last month revealed that traffic congestion on the Outer Ring Road stretch in Bengaluru costs the city a whopping $15-plus billion in revenues annually.

“We presented the report to state Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara on Wednesday,” informed the  ORRCA spokesperson Krishna Kumar Gowda in a conversation with DH. The minister has assured he will study the report carefully and revert to ORRCA soon, he added.

This comes as the 17 km stretch saw one of the worst traffic jams in the garden city’s recent memory, on Wednesday, owing to a host of issues ranging from people leaving the city for the long weekend, to employees swarming to work after Tuesday’s bandh and a number of vehicles breaking down across the stretch.

The IT corridor has however been infamous for its traffic snags, potholes and occasional flooding.

“The root cause is lack of adequate public transport to match growing needs.  Projects like suburban trains should’ve been implemented decades ago,” explained civic activist Srinivas Alavilli.

ORRCA’s report cited traffic snarls, infrastructure breakdown, lack of last-mile connectivity, inadequate public transportation, limited alternative routes and inconsistent traffic management, among others, as current challenges facing the K R Puram to Silkboard junction route.

While listing out pain points in and around ORR, resulting in traffic snarls, the report recommended immediate, near term and long term solutions to address the issue at hand.

“Outer Ring Road plays a critical role in the city's economic growth, serving as an IT corridor, generating employment, improving connectivity, driving real estate development and providing essential ancillary services,” the report highlighted.

It called for effective traffic management during metro construction, in the immediate term, via measures such as widening service roads, improving alternate routes, construction management during peak office hours, coordination with tech parks, dedicated lanes for heavy construction vehicles and deployment of barricades and signages.