Underpass at Kundalahalli Gate, as part of Signal-Free Corridor
Let me not write a sentence more than this one over the daily traffic jam at Kundalahalli Gate: If you are reading this, you know it’s bad. The good news is that the BBMP is about to launch an ambitious project to not just construct an underpass at Kundalahalli Gate, but also to make signal-free the entire road between Vallara Junction and Hope Farm. Aha, great — you say. But what about during construction? How do we get in and out of Whitefield when there’ll be a massive pit in the ground at Kundalahalli Gate? Are alternate roads planned? Is sufficient land acquisition done? And is the underpass future-proof? All legitimate questions, only natural to occur to the hapless Bangalorean. We met Mr. Somashekara, the formidable Chief Engineer of BBMP (Roads and Infra), and were pleasantly surprised at how much has gone into the planning of the SFC, including the Kundalahalli under-pass. The good CE has extended, nay, solicited, citizens’ involvement in several matters pertaining to the SFC. The project engineer Mr. Basavaraj Kabade, an IIT-Madras graduate, has an effortless grasp of both the large vision and the small detail. We are hopeful that this is going to be one well-executed project. Whitefield Rising now has an active group leading the dialogue with the BBMP on the SFC — adequate land acquisition? provision for side-roads? foot-bridges? planning? clean execution? etc. And we are thrilled absolutely to bits at BBMP’s willingness to lend us their ear. Please click here to see our presentation to the SFC team at BBMP. How can you, the average citizen, help? IF YOU HAVE EXPERIENCE IN ENGINEERING OR CONTRACT-SPECIFICATIONS, write to us at signal-free-corridor@whitefieldrising.org . We want folks in our team who understand details. IF YOU CAN SPARE TIME: We need volunteers who can monitor the execution, suggest alternate roads, report street-level activities during execution etc. Let us collaborate to make this a model for citizen-government project execution!
Nice presentation and info
This is indeed an excellent plan for people living and working near by area of Kundanahalli. There is few more steps can be taken. For example Thubarahalli Extended Road which can be used to divert the traffic from whitefield going towards ORR belandur, provided that it is developed.
Govt had a plan for 40ft road but currently it is under cold storage.
Without a timeline and the accountability, from my perspective this is just a plan on the paper.Apologies for this pessimism.
I have a suggestion. It will not cost money and will solve the problem without inconvinience to people.
Just make the Kundalahalli junction One way from 8.30 a.m – 10.30 a.m in the morning and 6 p.m to 8. p.m in the evening.
Traffic should flow from
Kundalahalli —-> ITPL —> HOPE FARM —> FORUM VALUE —> KUNDALAHALLI in morning.
In Evening, the reverse way. This way, we will have 4 lane road and traffic will get cleared faster because there will not be any signals.
I have couple of other ideas too which will help people pick public transport and cycle/walking rather than taking a car.
what do u think that people go only in ur route or what, the public travels both the sides so do never suggest such plans
Good Suggestion .Post this on Bangalore Traffic Police Facebook Website..
Whitefiled is junkest place in bangalore . Water problem . bad locality . No transport .
Any person with minimun commonsense know that it is not possible to build underpass at kundanahalli junction . This is a trick to increase the value for the assets in Junk place of Bangalore . Dont fall for this . this is baseless and people are using this post for adversting thier Property.
It has to be made sure projects completes on time. Also my suggestion is before starting civil works on road, build alternate road, Acquire all property required so that it does not go way of some of project (Example: BEL circle underpass and Hennur Flyover in ORR not completed for over 2 years now after the deadline due to land acquisition issue)
Whitefield is not a junk place, Mr.Kumar is free to find another place to live and work if he do not like this location due to any reason.
We have some well educated people with exposure to other continents here, please appreciate this initiative to make this place a better one and the best; one day. Let there be underpass, zebra crossings, more shopping malls and hospitals. We could have a clean environment with cycle path and foot-path as well.
Let all have a positive mind as we venture out each day.
Greets,
Jacob
Hi All,
We would like to plant trees (30 plus) inside the Rustumji Layout (also called as “Nagaraj” layout) beside “Vaswani Pinnacle”, Whitefield and we’re clueless about the permissions, procedures to proceed further.
Appreciate your views, suggestions & inputs please.
Regards, Prakash
Flyover’s and Bypass are not solutions for city like Bangalore. Instead of spending money on building flyovers. They should start Metro services from Silkboard to ITPL/ Domlur to ITP(This will replace all the company and government buses).
More the number of flyovers/bypass…more no of buses and cars.
I agree
Without proper planning of bus stops, signals and execution of traffic rules enforcing, any number of flyovers don’t solve Bangalore traffic problems. Bottlenecks move from one place to another.
After Marathahalli railway flyover, bottleneck moved to Kundahalli Signal and Grafite India Jn.
Another example is two back-to-back flyovers near ECO space (Bellandur and Devarabeesanahalli). I don’t understand how these flyovers solved the traffic issues. At peak time, you see traffic jam on flyover and below.
Hi,
Do we have any update to this project ? Thanks.
regards.
Instead of constructing underpasses and flyovers, the Government should speeden up the Metro phase 2 which connects the ITPL & ITPB. Also the metro should cover up the silk board to Marathalli bridge stretch. When this happens….. then the traffic would automaticaly ease out and we don’t require the flyovers & underpasses. The flyovers and underpasses are never the solutions for regulating the growing amount of traffic on the road. We need to strengthen the public transport and once this happens then public will automatically switch over to metros rather than using their own vehicles.
I’m a resident of Kundalahalli and I bear the brunt of this traffic everyday when I try to get to work. The absolute shortsighted approach to building flyovers on ring road and making it signal free only to be hit with a signal where the road is the narrowest is just appaling and reeks of inefficiencies all over the place. Looking at the this new plan to build an underpass and the alternate routes, it just shows how ill informed the planner is. All the alternate routes that they have suggested are already choked every morning at evening today. How is this road going to handle the additional traffic volumes? How are those giant office buses and volvo buses even going to negotiate those turns? Are these alternate routes going to be widened? Anyone who has driven through this will know that it just barely fits two cars. How are emergency service vehicles going to move in and out of these areas? The list of questions to ensure viability of this is endless. If the authorities are going to go ahead with this plan then I must say that my son in 2nd grade is better equipped to be the BBMP boss! Ridiculous is an understatement…
I don’t have a solution to the problem, but that does not mean that I agree to some other ridiculous solution which has failure written all over.
Hi Madhav,
Thank you for your passionate commentary. You have raised a number of relevant issues, many which all of us citizens are grappling with.
Would you like to join our citizen movement that is trying to improve matters? You are exactly the type of person we are looking for, in terms of aggressively engaging with government planners.
Hi Arvind,
Yes I’d like to help in anyway possible. Infact there are a quite a few folks who will be interested. Please let me know how to go about…
Cheers!
Well, I tried to add your email address (is it “madhavsitaraman AT-THE-RATE-SYMBOL hotmail.com) to our group within Whitefield Rising that deals with traffic issues. It looks like the email you gave us is bouncing back. If you send me your correct email address to me (I am arvind.keerthi AT whitefieldrising.org ) then you will get a chance to more actively participate. Thanks.
Also, where exactly in Kundalahalli do you live?
Madhav — we did not hear back from you. Venting at this (or any social-media site) can only go so far. We really do want folks who can present our case passionately at the minister or commissioner level. Please join us! — Arvind
Hi Arvind,
My email has a problem and I’ve sent you a note from an alternate email id. I rarely comment on any online forum as I completely agree that venting alone is not going to solve the problems. My delay in responding was due to travel plans over the weekend. Look forward to associating with the group.
Cheers!
Hi Arvind,
This past weekend I was travelling and had limited access to the internet and hence the delay in responding. Let me emphasis that I rarely write/vent my views on line and I’m fully aware that it does not help by stopping at that. So in this case I genuinely want to help but please do understand that if there is a delay in response it does not always mean that there is no intent to participate.
I sent you an email (to arvind.keerthi AT whitefieldrising.org) yesterday from an alternate ID as the hotmail one seemed to have been locked up. I have not received any response so far, which I presume is due to other commitments or the lack of time. Look forward to your reponse.
Cheers!
Hi Arvind,
Instead of having bypass near kundalhalli . Alternate solution can be to have flyover from outer ring road(near ISRO tilll Graphite India.
Most of the traffic issue will be resolved.
I stay in Kundalhalli and soon will be moving to Thubarahalli.
So,please add me to whitefield rising group.
Regards,
Suyog.
I like this idea… as much of the traffic that is causing the jam into Whiteflield is from the two sides of the Outer Ring road & Airport road (both from KR Puram and Bellandur). It is a good way to ease the traffic flow, and probably much more cheaper and more effective option. The route is also possibly the closest and shortest route to Whitefield.
Another reason this option is better is it would not have to move traffic through the Brookefields area as well.
The only problem is to navigate the Railway line and permissions with regard to that.
Regards,
Job Neroth
Hi,
We are a family staying at Kundanahalli Gate in an apartment which is barely a 2 minute walk from the kundanahalli signal on the sai baba colony road. Daily morning to cover the distance of 200 meters we take nothing less than 20 minutes. If you have been to this road u know that its hardly 30 ft with 2 way traffic… We were thinking y not make this road as one way. They can develop the road next to Sriram Samruddhi and use that for the other way traffic. This will hopefully reduce the congestion on that road. Also if the traffic signals can be lesser than 20 minutes it will be great !! Some times the cars queue is all the way up to Sai Baba temple!!
We also use the road next to Shell Petrol pump to reach ITPL from Kundanahalli. The condition of the road is very bad. It will be good if the concerned authorities look at this…
Thanks & Regards
Sudha
Making it one way is in fact one of our suggestions to the traffic police. It has to wind it’s way thru’ the system, so it will take time.
Next, fixing that road is especially very important, especially in light of the Kundalahalli Gate underpass construction. This is also something we have repeatedly taken up; government officials from BBMP Major Roads, the BBMP Commissioner, the MLA, and Minister Ramalinga Reddy have visited this spot, are aware of this little road going into Sai Baba Layout. Hang in there.
Now I need to ask you: Given your astute comment, will you be willing to join us in our efforts? Do you have the time and energy to focus more fully on this matter? Thanks.
Arvind,
I noticed that two of my comments regarding the responses to your queries are removed or still awaiting moderator approval, where as newer comments from other readers have been porcessed? This is quite unacceptable for me as you have posted a note stating that I have not responded to your first note and that I shouldn’t be someone who just vents online. In my opinion my clarifications to the delay should be published and not rejected as there was a similar delay from your end as well for my emails to you. I’m looking forward to hear from you and sincerely wish that my current view is only a misunderstanding.
Hi,
I have been in living in Kundalahalli for 10+years now. Have seen the area being developed from nothing to posh villas. Regarding SFC, it’s a great proposal provided it meets the deadlines.
Alternative routes available are:
1) Marathalli– ISRO railway cross– Graphite India
2)Marathalli— Alpine Eco road– Graphite India
3)Whitefeild Forum–Thubhrahalli Bus stop— (beside Health n Glow)– Thubhrahalli Extension Road– Outer Ring Road, After VIMS Hospital (currently this road is under paperwork)
If the above mentioned roads are developed, automatically traffic in Kundalahalli and adjoining areas will be reduced and well planned.
I know there are few people who are trying hard and working on developing the Thubhrahalli Extension Road. I believe if that road is developed, most of the traffic issues will be solved.
With best regards,
Abhik Barman
An overpass is better use of space. It is bizarre that metro work to whitefield has not started. That will decongest traffic more than anything else.
The Underpass at Kundalhalli Gate is a good idea only it is built with one single lane flyover from Hypercity towards Marathalli to handle the evening peak hours traffic coming out of ITPL including Volvo Buses(335E, 500C) to eliminate the need of signal for this traffic.
This will also eliminate the need of stopping the traffic at junction coming from Sai Baba Temple Road and people taking right turn from Varthur towards Hypercity.
Sad, but but again this is not enough. Graphite India Junction is crying for the same thing from last one year. Does anyone has any update on that?
They can think of underpasses with the Magic Boxes which the authorities assure of executing quickly.
Much of the traffic from Silkboard heading towards ITPL can be completely diverted away from Kundalahalli juction using Balagere road and SH35 (near Varthur Lake). Balagere road is parallel road to Varthur Road of Kundalahalli junction.
However, Balagere road has choking points at many places and very narrow. This road has to be widened to at least 60-feet.
As a part of RMP-2015, there are many road passing through Kundanahalli Junction and its surroundings. Some of them are widening existing road and some are new roads. For more details, we can see the Sector-3 and Sector-4 of RMP-2015-Roads. Why not BBMP act on this?
Hi ..
I also recently shifted to kundanahalli and came across the news of underpass at kundanahalli signal. With untimely rains matter have become worse in terms of traffic congestion and it will become more worse in actual rain. Apologies if I am wrong but no work have even started in developing alternate routs in fact normal routs like Graphite India road and Varthur road have been also dug up. The issue with VIBGYOR school road is still not resolved with many school busses passes there regularly.
Please let me know how can I part of this moment in raising voice against authorities.
Thank you for your very positive note. We have of course been working very hard on developing alternate routes. Not all our proposals have met with approval, but the work you see behind graphiteIndia-AlpineEco-connectingToORR is intended to take ITPL traffic directly to ORR when the Kundalahalli gate is dug up.
Also, we have insisted, and largely succeeded thus far that work on Kundalahalli Underpass NOT begin until land acquisition is completed. When land acquisition is completed, you should find alternate roads around the pit where the underpass will come.
Next, we have also accelerated the work (sanctioned several years ago) along ITPL-Nellurahalli-Shell station, as also borewellRd-VydehiJunction, as these are expected to take a sizeable fraction of traffic headed for the Kundalahalli underpass project site. At present, BWSSB sewerage work is going on along these stretches, but just as soon as that is done (whenever), these two roads are supposed to be fixed.
As for Vibgyor Road, the issue is that one land-loser has not been compensated. You may contact our MLA, who is actively working to resolve the case.
HI Sir,
We stay near at shiridi sai nager, munnekolala, all the connectivity roads to main road is completely damaged, worse than village roads. Kundanahali signal to sai mandir made as one way.now a days, after this our problem is increased more, since vibgiyaar road alos have very big pathwholes, can’t imagine during rainee day’s.
Many complaints raised to BBMP official’s no one is responding to us.
We are loosing our hopes. Even i don’t see any hope for better living in this area.
THanks
Hari
Hi
Recently I have witnessed the boundary wall behind Kundalahalli Gate Bus stop (while going towards Marathahalli) has been razed. Is it possibly related to the underpass construction? Also – is there any plan/time frame of construction? Are both lanes planned together or one lane after the other (like the underpass at JP Morgan was constructed).
And can someone tell me, what is the alternate route planned for someone who has to travel from Spice Garden to Tubrahalli ? As I see all alternate routes being discussed for the long distance traveller only.
I live in Gulmohar Enclave Main road. (Lane besides Star Extraa & Glconda Chimney). And I Have been here since 12 years. Would like to know if myself or we as residents and can be of any help to this community and the authorities. Thanks.
Its quite surprise that people have some hope.
Thuburahalli extension road and vibgyor road one should really see the condition.Approximately 1000 families stay in both the places. No proper road for last 4 years. Thuburahalli extension road is fenced and not motorable at all. Even basic infrastructure is not there including street lights.
Suggesting alternate route is a good idea but why not promote car pooling.
Everyday while commuting to office from kundalahalli gate to ITPL via Graphite Junction one can easily observe that almost 90% of the 4Wheelers have only passenger. Doesn’t that add to the already choking traffic ?
If I can commute to office with 3 other collegues everyday in my car why not other’s can do the same ?
The first thing that needs to be done is make people aware of car pooling and it’s benefits.
I am sure most of the people would already know this but the question is how many of us utilise this ?
You don’t need any special app to do this, just speak to your office mates and create a WatsApp group. Commute with them share the cost and save the environment.
Regards
Raj
Hello Arvind and All
Its really commendable to note that citizens are taking time out to make our place of living a slightly better prospect.
A former resident near Kundanhalli Gate and presently staying at Whitefield Kadugodi, I daily commute through this stretch and face the grant of the situation at minimum two times a day ! While I should not complain much, I cannot hold myself in saying that the root cause of the issue with Bangalore traffic ( specially in this area ) is POOREST of POOR administrative management ! That has to be addressed first, before constructing roads/underpass etc.
I am sure we all have noticed the number of Volvo buses plying through this stretch (ITPL via Shell station) and shamelessly waiting for passengers at Kundanhalli junction much to the amaze of irresponsible traffic cops! At any given time, one will notice buses playing with one/two passengers and while same sector buses queuing behind ! Why so many buses for lesser number of passengers ? The yellow plate cab drivers/water tankers does significant contribution to the mess in driving non-sensibly and halting at middle of no where!
Where in India have we seen trucks/lorries plying within the city limits and in busy office schedule ? It happens only in Bangalore! Are areas like Koromangalas /MG Roads only considered to be under city limits ? Why not the trucks/lorries etc. banned from entering beyond Hoskote beyond 6 AM and until 11 PM – straight away – no matter what happens ! 40-50% of our problems will be solved by this !
The condition of roads – commendable ! Someone lays the road after tremendous follow-ups and next day you will see people digging them – as if trying to find treasure ! Absolutely zero planning ! Smooth roads lead to smooth flow of traffics. No matter what happens, need to have the roads laid with good quality materials first and plan for such underpasses etc. as next step. Let the traffic flow smoothly first !
Why cannot traffic police book, act against hooligans driving crazily on roads ( including yellow plate drivers ) ? Why don’t we feel safe to drive on road ? Are we paying our taxes to constantly fear or will we have someday, that would level us with western countries – polite driving sense amongst motorists ? On the contrary, we see traffic cops stopping ( mainly 2 wheelers ) as if terrorists only ride them !!
Schools near Kundanhalli sector should make alternative arrangements and not allow their buses to take the U turn. It is the source of all traffic problems in the morning and creates havoc when motorists are stopped by cops while they merrily take U turn !!
Tons of things could be addressed immediately to smoothen the traffic flow in that area and this could be made possible immediately – without much investments as well – provided administrative department acts and we follow-up ! Lets address basic things first to have a better vision for tomorrow, is all I have to say ! Land acquisition, alternative roads, underpass constructions etc. are long time objectives – certainly could be made possible if dealt step by step!
It may be wise to use nallurahalli junction and siddapura road for deviating the traffic towards kundalahalli which are bound to marathahalli and varthur.
This will greatly reduce peaktime choke on kundalahalli road.
Thanks,
haritas
It’s a great decision but when start work?quickly solve this problem
It all seems very far and all talk. Looking at the current state of Whitefield and Kundalahalli juntion with every thing dug up for last 6 months and very slow progress I would rather not have it. Anyway, we have been hearing about it for last so many years and things are only becoming worse day by day. Let us do something to provide immediate relief to people.
I have been seeing this news and many other news on projects to de congest traffic in whitefield from 2011. Till today none of them are implemented. Do we really have a date when the project will start ? And how much time to complete ?
What is the progress on this ?
Plan has dropped???
http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31820&articlexml=Kundalahalli-underpass-plan-dumped-25022016003035