Relief for 50,000 techies hit by NICE Road blockade; toll-free expressway opens tomorrow
Relief for 50,000 techies hit by NICE Road blockade; toll-free expressway opens tomorrowFifty thousand techies, who were inconvenienced for the past 12 days because of a blockaded NICE road as farmers led by former prime minister H D Deve Gowda held a protest, can heave a sigh of relief.
A 9.5 km elevated expressway connecting the city directly to the IT district of Electronics City opens for the public tomorrow.
City's longest e-wayThe new expressway is the city's longest so far, and is expected to take off traffic from the NICE road.
"NICE will lose some portion of money that is being collected as toll charge, as many people will come to the Silk Board junction to join the expressway since it's a toll free road, at least for now," said traffic expert Prof M N Sreehari.
Experts feel that later, people might take the NICE road to reach their destinations faster as there would be fewer traffic jams.
A small error"If the elevated expressway extended beyond the Silk Board junction, traffic could have been avoided, but currently, traffic jams occur near this junction.
Around Rs 500 crore have been spent on this elevated expressway but there is a slight mistake in planning.
The time that people will save on the expressway will be of no use once they come out of this road," Shreehari said.
According to experts, of those taking the elevated expressway, 30 per cent would come from Jayanagar, Mysore Road, Kanakapura Road and Bannerghatta Road; 40 per cent from Koramangala and Dairy Circle; 20 per cent would come from HSR Layout and 10 per cent from the surrounding areas.
"People should maintain the speed limit on different lanes on this signal free expressway to avoid accidents. If accidents occur on this road, they will cause major jams," said Sreehari.
NICE lossThe protest that blocked over nine-km stretch from Mysore road to Kanakapura road, forced the techies and other public to take alternative road through city. This is the main place that one has to cross to reach Electronics City.
A NICE spokesperson said, "After the opening of elevated Expressway the flow of traffic on NICE road will not come down but rather there are chances of increase in the traffic.
The closure of Nice road caused a loss of around Rs 2 crore."
