Poor road conditions, waterlogging caused 106 km of congestion in 4 months in Bengaluru

Traffic incidents surged after pre-monsoon showers began in May.

In the past four months, Bengaluru’s high-density corridors (HDCs) have seen a cumulative 106 km of congestion due to poor road conditions and waterlogging, data from the traffic police shows. 

Data accessed by DH shows that across the 22 HDCs, the traffic police’s AI-powered tool Actionable Intelligence for Sustainable Traffic Management (ASTraM) recorded 39 waterlogging events causing 82 km of congestion in May alone. 

Similarly, poor road conditions such as potholes, debris and improper speed breakers contributed to 20.1 km of congestion since February, while separate tree fall incidents caused 3.8 km of severe congestion in total in May. 

After pre-monsoon showers began in May, traffic incidents have shot up significantly. DH had reported that vehicle breakdowns comprised 71% of all congestion-causing incidents on city’s roads between February and April. 

Although vehicle breakdowns continued to dominate road incidents in May, waterlogging, poor road conditions, tree falls and construction activities have jointly comprised over 26% of all road incidents (1,736) reported on ASTraM in the same month. In the first week of June alone, 137 events of waterlogging were reported. 

These are causing major traffic disruptions on the city’s high-density corridors such as Old Madras Road, Old Airport Road, Outer Ring Road and Ballari Road. 

Situation at ORR 

In the eastern part of the ORR, poor road conditions and ongoing road repair works have exacerbated the traffic problem. The road has no parallel alternative, leaving most heavy goods vehicles and those headed towards or from the tech parks no other choice but to ply on the road. 

Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M N Anucheth said that traffic moved especially slowly between Tuesday and Thursday in the first week of June due to several potholes that have not been filled between Iblur and Marathahalli junctions. 

“Drains overflow even with short periods of rainfall and the water does not seem to recede overnight because of blocked shoulder drains. Potholes contribute to this situation,” he said. 

Police officers point out that pending desilting of stormwater drains and removal of construction debris along the ORR is also choking traffic, effectively cutting off a single lane for traffic when it rains and water has no run off area. 

It has to be noted that BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Giri Nath told engineers to put in place temporary arrangements to ensure that waterlogging doesn’t occur on the ORR. The BBMP has not made any progress on this.

Stormwater drain overflows

The BBMP has taken up road asphalting work on Bellandur Lake Road and Sakra Hospital Road where the stormwater drain also overflows and floods the road.  “Metro barricades from Silk Board to Marathahalli are yet to be removed. Removing these barricades might open up some more space to allow traffic movement” said an officer attached to the Bellandur traffic police station.