It was a long pending connect between Jakkur and Yelahanka over the railway track at Allalasandra village. In a fortnight of flip-flop, the Allalasandra flyover or Rail Over Bridge that was opened to the public one ramp at a time has been blocked for good. The reason is that the flyover, which can completely unclog Yelahanka old town-Kudlu gate has developed potholes and cracks making a seamless ride impossible even before its officially inaugurated.
The roads leading to it also are unmotorable as work is yet to be completed on the village side. Prathima KR, a student who has been forced to take a 2.5 km detour that takes thirty-forty minutes during peak hour just like thousands of other commuters says her joy of reaching her residence in Yelahanka New Town has to wait longer. ``For almost three years, this stretch has been blocked for construction. Now, when the flyover is ready we can’t use it yet. There seems to be no accountability,’’ she says.
The road over bridge project has been jointly funded and executed by Indian Railways and the BBMP. It provides seamless connectivity for those travelling from the city to Yelahanka New Town and beyond towards Doddaballapur. With the airport traffic taking the tolled flyover at Aster CMI hospital, the highway below leads to Kodigehalli, Amruthalli and Jakkur traffic signals. From Jakkur a Y junction helped motorists go towards Yelahanka police station through a manned level crossing and the other loop continued onto Yelahanka bypass to join further at Kogilu cross. With the work going on, commuters had a harrowing time as they had to go through a maze of interconnecting high speed lanes that merged on the bypass road and risk life and limb to take designated one-ways to reach back to Yelahanka police station. In the other direction, the journey towards the city was even more challenging as both lanes of the Yelahanka Old Town double road has been made one ways and motorists have to go all the way to Kogilu cross to take a U-turn but ended up in huge pile ups as the bulk of traffic slowed to take a right back into Yelahanka old town. ``We were going around in circles. We continue to do so even now,’’ rues Narayanaswamy who travels to his government job everyday between Rajanakunte and Cauvery Bhavan.
Regulars also point out that the design of the RoB is not that great on the national highway side as one nears the exit from the Yelahanka side, they will be greeted by a traffic signal at the Y junction below. But, atleast a freeway with a traffic junction is better than waiting at a manned level crossing, say residents hoping that the RoB will be thrown open soon.
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