Stung by Oct 23 night traffic havoc, E-City experiments one-ways

Bengaluru: With nearly three lakh vehicles entering and exiting Electronics City every day and the numbers bound to increase, traffic jams in the tech hub are likely to become a common feature.
To preempt such situations, traffic police along with ELCITA (Electronics City Industrial Township Authority) have rolled out a decongestion plan that envisages more one-ways. Electronics City, spread over 900 acres alongside the Bengaluru-Hosur highway, is one of the biggest electronic industrial parks and houses a large number of top tech companies. The infrastructure and other issues in the tech hub are managed by its members through ELCITA.
To start with, Electronics City has introduced one-ways on some routes in the western phase on an experimental basis till Jan 3. According to an ELCITA spokesperson, the number of vehicles entering and exiting the township has massively increased over the years as the surrounding areas use the roads. A survey done by ELCITA two years ago showed that 1.7 lakh vehicles entered and exited the township, and the stakeholders believe that the numbers would have doubled currently.
"We have been receiving complaints from commuters about traffic jams, and the roads (measuring 10-20m on each side of the divider) aren't enough to accommodate the traffic. When we looked into potential options to solve the issue, traffic consultants suggested we try out one-way traffic," an official said.
The immediate trigger for initiating changes was the massive traffic jam on the E-City elevated corridor on Oct 23 night following a downpour. The impact was such that the internal roads were clogged and this prompted the authorities to think about potential traffic problems in future.
"Road widening, flyovers, and underpasses are not feasible for us currently as we are an industrial setup and we don't have much space. We agree that now commuters might have to travel a few extra miles to connect to the Electronics City flyover, but extra miles are still better than being stuck in traffic on the narrow roads," explained the spokesperson.
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First day tough show
While the roads are made one-way, a few junctions did see traffic jams and confusion on Dec 20, the first day of the traffic experiment. A few auto drivers and delivery partners reached out to ELCITA, expressing their concerns over spending more on fuel as they have to do extra rounds inside the township.
ELCITA said they are open to feedback and are tweaking the plans on allowing one-way traffic. "We did see traffic in some junctions and we have already made some changes accordingly. We will receive feedback until Jan 3 and we shall consider all of them," said the spokesperson.
Deputy commissioner of police (south-traffic) Shivaprakash Devaraj, told TOI, "The proposal for one-way traffic was from ELCITA but the implementation and monitoring is made from Bengaluru Traffic Police end. The current plan does look like a solution to decongest roads inside the township. However, this is just a trial basis and BTP shall take a final call only after a proper evaluation from the trial period."
"We are receiving mixed responses and feedback from the commuters… We shall evaluate all of them and take a call about which roads can go one-way traffic and which can't," explained Devraj.