CORRODING CORRIDOR

Choking and gasping for breathing space

State Highway 17 linking Bangalore-Mysore is fast turning into a death trap. On an average, 800 accidents occur on this 140-km stretch every year

BY B S SATISH KUMAR
DH NEWS SERVICE BANGALORE:

Even as the proposed Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project is mired in controversy, the busy and crammed Bangalore-Mysore sector is crying for transport infrastructure development. A bus journey between Bangalore and Mysore has not only grown longer from 165 minutes some years ago to around 210 minutes today, travel on this stretch is also accident-prone due to increasing traffic.

Vehicular traffic is increasing steadily on this stretch with more number of people commuting to Bangalore from nearby areas. The problem is acute between Bangalore and Kumbalgodu, on the city’s outskirts.

It is not just commuters who find it difficult to negotiate this stretch. School children and others who take this busy road are finding it increasingly unsafe during peak hours. Strangely, there are no pedestrian underpasses anywhere on this highway.

The vehicular traffic mix adds to the problems on this road. Apart from buses and cars, there is a sizeable truck traffic due to the quarries and sugar factories located in the area. Besides, bullock carts and tractors too vie for space in Mandya and part of Mysore district. Though the existing Bangalore-Mysore Road is being widened, commuters and local people argue that it may not help resolve the heavy traffic problem. Some consolation is drawn from the fact that road widening would ease traffic congestion and avoid head-on collisions as a median is proposed to be built on the highway. But, people are still apprehensive that it may not be adequate to meet future increase in vehicular traffic.

The commuters and locals are unanimous in demanding doubling of Bangalore-Mysore railway line and introducing electric trains. This would reduce the pressure on SH-17, they observe. Locals also demand that alternative routes should be explored to enable diversion of a part of the traffic from this road. One such possibility was to divert traffic via Kanakapura road, they suggest.