BANGALORE: Lingarajapuram has a population of about one lakh.Quite some time ago, a new two-lane flyover was constructed over Bangalore- Salem railway track to meet the growing requirements of the people in the area.But there is trouble brewing in Lingarajapuram. The flyover does not seem to hold the traffic that the area is currently witnessing.However, the problem starts much before the flyover.The road that leads to the flyover is not wide enough to accommodate traffic, and during peak hours school children and others find crossing the road a Herculean task. Some pedestrians blame the drivers for this mess.“People do not follow traffic signals. This causes inconvenience for the pedestrians to walk and also cross,” says Subha while attempting to cross the road.The gridlock affects not only the pedestrians but also vehicles. “The heavy traffic is caused by the Oil Mill Road junction from where vehicles take a U-Turn. It blocks both sides of roads,” notes Raju, a frequent commuter.J u s t a f t e r t h e Lingarajapuram flyover, in the towards Hennur, there is a bus stop. This seems to be another problem area.People say that buses halt for five to ten minutes, blocking the traffic behind them.“We just can’t overtake the buses that are stopped in the middle of the road,” says Selvaraj, a resident of Lingarajapuram.But the traffic policeman manning the vehicular movement says that traffic problems don’t exist all the time.“The traffic problem near Lingarajapuram flyover is only during the peak hours, that is from 8 am to 11 am, and 4.30 pm to 9.30 pm,” says the traffic policeman on condition of anonymity.The deafening traffic is a cause of concern for Rajashekar, a shopkeeper here. He says, “The traffic is heavy at the flyover. It causes sound pollution. Also the bikes, instead of slowing down sometimes raise the accelerator and zip through the traffic. And this causes ait pollution.” But the corporator of the area says that there is hope. Says Lavanya Ganesh Reddy, the local corporator, “We have started the construction of an underpass.It will be completed within two months. Road widening has also been planned by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike in this area. The construction will be started as soon as possible’’.
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