Silk Board double-decker flyover cuts congestion by half, reveals police data

Bengaluru: The opening of the Silk Board double-decker flyover has done wonders to drastically cut the congestion at the infamous Silk Board junction by half or so data from the Bengaluru Traffic Police reveals.

More than two months since its opening on July 18, the junction has seen a 56 per cent reduction overall in traffic congestion. Peak congestion has reduced by 42 per cent and 45 per cent in the morning and evening, respectively. 

In the week before the flyover opened to the public, the road from Ragigudda junction, which is the entry point to the flyover, to Silk Board junction below the flyover saw an average congestion length of 7 km per day. This has reduced to about two km per day in September.

A positive ripple effect of the flyover is that combined congestion length on all approach roads -- from Ragigudda, Madiwala, Electronics City and HSR Layout -- to the junction has fallen, noted M N Anucheth, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic). Congestion lengths fell from an average of 19 km per day before the opening to 10 km per day in September.

“There is no issue of traffic towards the Silk Board below or on the flyover now. If anything, there is a slight increase in traffic congestion at the Aurobindo Circle near the Raghavendra temple as all the vehicles need to get to that point to enter the flyover up-ramp,” said an officer from the Jayanagar traffic police station.

The data shows that the week just after the flyover opened, traffic congestion at the circle, also called Ragigudda junction, jumped to an average of six km per day, which has now eased out to about a kilometre.

However, the down ramps towards HSR Layout and Electronics City see a traffic slowdown when the traffic from the flyover merges into the one on the road below. 

Naren, who travels to HSR Layout from Peenya every day, experiences a smooth ride on the flyover most days. “However, the congestion from Silk Board has shifted a little further towards HSR Layout on the Outer Ring Road,” he said.

Relief needed beyond the flyover

While the road along the flyover has seen a dip in congestion Hosur Road which connects Madiwala to Electronics City continues to see heavy congestion particularly at the Ayyappa Swamy temple junction and Roopena Agrahara which falls in between the downramp of one flyover and the up-ramp of the Electronic City elevated expressway. “We post one sub-inspector or assistant sub-inspector with five constables to manage the traffic at Roopena Agrahara. The NHAI has agreed to asphalt the service road near the new Bommanahalli metro station so we hope to shift private buses there once that is done to ease traffic” an officer from Madiwala traffic police station said.