To identify the Congestion zones along Mysore Road. To critical analyze the identified congestion zones. To suggest pertinent solutions.

Mysore road is one of the major roads in Bangalore connecting the city center with the outskirts. Mysore road is the state highway connecting Bengaluru with Mysore, Ramanagara, and Mandya. This stretch is found across the southwestern part of Bengaluru radiating from the center of the city. Along this stretch many timber wood industries, apartments, and commercial activities could be noticed.

The term congestion is widely discussed in the transportation sector. In simple the term traffic congestion means the stumbling block of traffic paths by lined up vehicles. Traffic congestion is viewed differently by veterans of different fields, in the view of the traffic engineer, it is a delay in the mobility and lining up vehicles or may be due to poor standard of service for traffic or the volume of traffic exceeding the road supply. For a planner, it is unevenness existing between the demand and supply of the traffic system. But an economist views it as an extra travel investment made by a traveler.

Nearly 20 congestion zones have been identified along the stretch of 14.5 km along Mysore road starting from K R Market to Ramo halli cross. The details of the Congestion zones are listed in the given table below.

The above table and map depict the congestion zones identified along Mysore road. To begin with K R Market up to Ramo halli cross, the major reason behind traffic congestion is the merging of multiple traffic streams into this main arterial road. This scenario can be very well noticed near the Mysore circle.

Near Mysore circle traffic from three different streams converges, one is from the flyover i.e. starting soon after town hall bus stop and the other K R Market junction, the second one is from traffic plying below this flyover and thirdly from the Mysore circle Bus stop from Chamarajpet. Similar aspects can be noticed near BHEL Circle, Nayandahalli Junction respectively. Near Gali Anjaneya temple the scenario is different. This zone is the best example for the bottleneck, because as and when one nears this GaliAnjaneya temple the road comparatively becomes narrow leading to traffic snarls. Either side of the road there are two temples one is GaliAnjaneya temple and the other Plague Mariyamma temple. The traffic situation particularly at this spot gets still worse during special occasions taking place in these temples.

Next near Nayandahalli junction and Rajarajeshwari Nagar Gate it is not only the merging of multiple traffic streams occur, in addition to it the existence of traffic signal for three road streams results in traffic congestion. In the case of Rajarajeswari Nagar Gate, the existence of Bus stop soon after the signal immediately blocks the traffic because of buses stopping near these stops. Thus, to summarize, the traffic congestion along this stretch are mainly due to the merging of multiple traffic streams, narrowing of roads i.e. bottlenecks, and thirdly the existence of traffic signals at the junctions.

In order to ease the traffic congestion, first of all, a proper analysis should be made before the execution of the road plans, i.e. for example flyovers are constructed to ease the traffic, but it is noticed the traffic jams problems are eased only between the starting and endpoint of the flyover. The snarl occurs obviously before and after the flyover, thus necessary analysis should be done before the execution of any plan.

Road widening or extension should be done at the bottlenecks of the road. Underpass or Skywalk can be constructed at the junctions wherein snarl occurs due to traffic signals. Relocation of bus stops was found soon after the signals.

In general, rather than a personal mode of transportation public should be encouraged to commute through public mode yields better results. But in order to do this, frequency and connectivity aspects of the public mode of transportation should be meticulously evaluated.

In conclusion, a Metropolitan city like Bangalore is growing at a faster rate with the developments taking place. Thus, a proper plan and its execution is a must as per the needs and development changing with the passage of time.