Kamaraj Road, connecting MG Road and Cubbon Road, reopened to traffic on Friday, June 14, 2024. It was closed in 2019 for metro construction.
Credit: DH Photo/Pushkar V
Bengaluru: A short stretch of Kamaraj Road connecting Cubbon Road and MG Road reopened to traffic after being closed for five years due to metro work.
On Friday afternoon, Namma Metro and traffic police reopened one lane of the 220-metre stretch, allowing traffic from Cauvery Arts and Crafts Junction to Cubbon Road. Metro work is still underway in the other lane.
Maheshwar Rao M, Managing Director, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), confirmed the development to DH.
Police manually managed traffic until the electric supply to the signal at the Cubbon Road Junction was restored by 4.20 pm, an officer from the Shivajinagar traffic police station said.
"The reopening can significantly ease traffic congestion at both junctions. We will also be able to manage traffic moving towards Commercial Street better," the officer added.
Traffic coming from Mayo Hall can take a right turn, and vehicles coming from Anil Kumble Circle can take a left at the Cauvery Arts and Crafts Junction to move towards the Kamaraj Road-Cubbon Road Junction. Vehicles can take a left to reach BRV Junction or right to Manipal Centre or continue straight towards Commercial Street.
The reopened road is concretised and features a footpath that runs about 150 metres along the compound of the Mankeshaw Parade Ground. The footpath then turns into a pedestrian pathway barricaded it with a road divider. Streetlights with underground cabling adorn the footpath, and parking is banned on the road.
On the flip side, there's no green cover on the footpath. The metro authorities cut down all trees along the parade compound and didn't plant any saplings.
The reopening took many vehicle users by surprise. Unaware that it was a one-way, many drivers from Cubbon Road and Commercial Street mistakenly went towards the Cauvery Emporium.
A traffic policeman posted at the Cubbon Road junction was at his wit's end trying to stop them. "It's a one-way. Don't go there," he shouted but with little success.
The policeman suggested that the other land could open next week but there was no immediate official confirmation.
The underground MG Road metro station is located on the Purple Line, which spans 21.25 km from Kalena Agrahara to Nagavara. The station has four entrances: one at Cauvery Arts and Crafts Junction, another next to the RSI entrance, a third near the parade ground and a fourth at the Kamaraj Road-Cubbon Road junction.
The Pink Line is scheduled to open in the second half of 2025.