Monday, January 31, 2005
Road problems ... cont'd
I need to get this out of my system. So the show continues ...
The next set of problems is with the utter lack of lane discipline. Watch the Marathahalli bridge at peak hours (8:30 AM - 11 AM OR 7 PM - 8:30 PM). The bridge is so narrow that when vehicles have to get onto it they do so from the left. Capisce ??
Ok ... for those who did'nt ... picture a stream of water flowing at a pretty regular pace coming down a hill. Now imagine it has to navigate into a man made pipe which is 2 ft diameter as opposed to the stream that was say 6 ft wide ....
The best part of the whole thing is there are NO cops that are controlling these commercial vehicles (yes, all the buses/trucks/Qualis/Sumos are CVs). And all of them get onto the "left most" of the bridge to get ahead. The most ironical thing is even if they do, you'll find them not very much ahead once you cross the bridge. Why all the hurry to get ahead then ??
Onto the next big thing - the cops (or lack of them) ... There's one lame-duck cop on the top of the bridge where there's a junction. That reminds me, this junction was almost a much-overlooked one till a lot of flats suddenly mushroomed around the bottom of the bridge, on either side of the railway tracks (That's right I forgot to mention - the Marathahalli bridge goes over a railway track). A good 3 years ago, it used to take me 2 min. to cross the Marathalli Ring Road junction and the bridge all at one go. Today it takes me 25 min. from Marathahalli Market (usually from the gate of the Air Force Officer's colony) till I'm over the bridge on the other side.
And all this is due to the one cop that I talked about - so let's get back to him ... All he does is stop traffic for an odd scooterist or an auto or a slow-moving truck that wants to join mainstream traffic. In the 2 seconds that he stops traffic for, there gets created such a logjam that the "go-to-the-left-most-part-of-the-bridge-to-get-ahead" routine starts !!
First things first, they should start asking the cop to synchronize his stopping so that the logjam is cleared first instead of sympathizing with the auto or scooter which wants to join the mainstream traffic. So there should be 2 cops - 1 on the beginning of the bridge and another where he stands today. (Someday I'll even get his name methinks - the traffic moves so slowly there that you can read his "nameplate" on his shirt !!)
The other big thing that is needed is a rotary (for those who've been to the US will know what I'm talking about) at the Marathahalli ring road junction. I'm really awestruck at the cops who control traffic from 8 directions at peak time at this junction. Just imagine if there was a rotary here with signals and people yielding. This is the NEED of the hour at this place. Spare the poor cops for pete's sakes !!
That's all for now ... more later.
The next set of problems is with the utter lack of lane discipline. Watch the Marathahalli bridge at peak hours (8:30 AM - 11 AM OR 7 PM - 8:30 PM). The bridge is so narrow that when vehicles have to get onto it they do so from the left. Capisce ??
Ok ... for those who did'nt ... picture a stream of water flowing at a pretty regular pace coming down a hill. Now imagine it has to navigate into a man made pipe which is 2 ft diameter as opposed to the stream that was say 6 ft wide ....
The best part of the whole thing is there are NO cops that are controlling these commercial vehicles (yes, all the buses/trucks/Qualis/Sumos are CVs). And all of them get onto the "left most" of the bridge to get ahead. The most ironical thing is even if they do, you'll find them not very much ahead once you cross the bridge. Why all the hurry to get ahead then ??
Onto the next big thing - the cops (or lack of them) ... There's one lame-duck cop on the top of the bridge where there's a junction. That reminds me, this junction was almost a much-overlooked one till a lot of flats suddenly mushroomed around the bottom of the bridge, on either side of the railway tracks (That's right I forgot to mention - the Marathahalli bridge goes over a railway track). A good 3 years ago, it used to take me 2 min. to cross the Marathalli Ring Road junction and the bridge all at one go. Today it takes me 25 min. from Marathahalli Market (usually from the gate of the Air Force Officer's colony) till I'm over the bridge on the other side.
And all this is due to the one cop that I talked about - so let's get back to him ... All he does is stop traffic for an odd scooterist or an auto or a slow-moving truck that wants to join mainstream traffic. In the 2 seconds that he stops traffic for, there gets created such a logjam that the "go-to-the-left-most-part-of-the-bridge-to-get-ahead" routine starts !!
First things first, they should start asking the cop to synchronize his stopping so that the logjam is cleared first instead of sympathizing with the auto or scooter which wants to join the mainstream traffic. So there should be 2 cops - 1 on the beginning of the bridge and another where he stands today. (Someday I'll even get his name methinks - the traffic moves so slowly there that you can read his "nameplate" on his shirt !!)
The other big thing that is needed is a rotary (for those who've been to the US will know what I'm talking about) at the Marathahalli ring road junction. I'm really awestruck at the cops who control traffic from 8 directions at peak time at this junction. Just imagine if there was a rotary here with signals and people yielding. This is the NEED of the hour at this place. Spare the poor cops for pete's sakes !!
That's all for now ... more later.
Comments:
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Hi Idleez,
Assuming that most of us work in a networked economy that is the base of Bangalore's success, so you think we need to convince our employers to give us an option to work from home...don't know how feasible this is and how well it will go with the employers, but for me I can work if I do not come to office for 2 days out of the 5 days that I am supposed to come.
-Anuradha
http;//anuradhagoyal.blogspot.com
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Assuming that most of us work in a networked economy that is the base of Bangalore's success, so you think we need to convince our employers to give us an option to work from home...don't know how feasible this is and how well it will go with the employers, but for me I can work if I do not come to office for 2 days out of the 5 days that I am supposed to come.
-Anuradha
http;//anuradhagoyal.blogspot.com
<< Home
