The project is likely to aggravate the woes of commuters at Silk Board junction, which is already a bottleneck

BENGALURU: If all goes according to Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited’s plan, the notorious traffic bottleneck at Central Silk Board Junction will be a thing of past. Work on a road-cum-rail flyover at the junction that accommodates Metro lines and road traffic will begin soon. Bengalureans, however, may have to put up with even more congestion once the construction starts.

BMRCL recently awarded the tender for construction of loops and ramps for the Rs 134-crore 2.8km flyover at the junction, including road widening and allied work on Metro’s Reach 5 (RV Road-Bommasandra) to Renaatus Projects Pvt. Ltd.

Corporation officials said the flyover will facilitate a signal-free intersection and also decongest the road. The elevated road is likely to be eight metres above the existing road level, while the Metro line is 16-metre high.

Respite for motorists?

The four-lane road will be 20-metre wide and have four loops with a ramp towards Electronics City, BTM Layout and HSR Layout. It will bring respite to motorists, especially those headed to areas like Electronics City, BTM Layout, Marathahalli and HSR Layout via Silk Board junction. Two Metro lines: RV Road-Bommasandra and Silk Board-KR Puram-Airport interchange at the junction.

Traffic jams at Silk Board junction are part of Bengaluru’s urban folklore. For years, motorists have been complaining of slow-moving traffic at the spot. In fact, a recent Ola study found the junction is among the seven notorious traffic bottlenecks in the country.

In 2017, the government released blueprint of the flyover at Silk Board junction, which was supposed to be ready by 2020. BMRCL awarded the work in a third tender after the previous two tenders elicited no response from private firms. The corporation is already constructing a rail-cum-road flyover between Ragigudda and Silk Board junction.

