How a small intervention eased a big bottleneck at Byatarayanapura Junction

Commuters travelling from Airport Road via Byatarayanapura and Mall of Asia towards the city and vice versa, who until recently had to make a detour of over three kilometres to take a U-turn, can now complete the same movement in about 1.5 kilometres.

The Bengaluru North City Corporation, working with the traffic police, has reconfigured entry-exit points along the Byatarayanapura–GKVK corridor, a long-troubled stretch where traffic from the service road, main carriageway and Mall of Asia frontage previously converged into a single choke-point. 

For years, the Byatarayanapura junction had remained one of the most gridlocked spots on the Hebbal-Yelahanka route. Vehicles from Kodigehalli and Sahakar Nagar, merged from the service road, while traffic from L&T side frequently cut across the one-way to avoid the long U-turn ahead. With no crossover allowed at the Jakkur signal, commuters heading towards the city or Amruthahalli were forced to travel up to Allalasandra before turning around, a detour that created daily violations.

The civic body has now altered the movement pattern by creating an exit after the mall and a new entrance near GKVK. This allows motorists, particularly those from L&T apartments, to turn back far earlier than before. “The proximity of the new U-turn has directly curbed wrong-way driving, which had become routine because the earlier turn was several kilometres away,” North Corporation Commissioner, Pommala Sunil Kumar, told The Hindu.

Officials from the corporation said that while the rearrangement has been introduced on a temporary trial basis, the corporation plans to propose making it permanent in consultation with the NHAI, which manages a portion of the stretch, the BMRCL undertaking metro construction work in the area, and the traffic police.

As part of the reorganisation, the traffic signal on the service road near the Byatarayanapura junction has been switched off to allow continuous movement towards the airport. Those heading towards Amruthahalli or GKVK can still take the regular route and turn from the carriageway. Meanwhile, vehicles from the service road can no longer slip into the other lanes, one of the earlier sources of persistent congestion. They now enter from the first opening, which directs them onto the main road towards the Mall of Asia without clashing with other streams, officials said.

The new U-turn near GKVK had initially drawn hesitation from the traffic police, particularly because the stretch often witnesses surges during weekends and events. Officials describe the decision to open it as a ‘calculated risk’, but one that has paid off so far. We have shifted the load from one overburdened junction- Byatarayanapura junction- to two manageable points- GKVK and Jakkur junction, the official added.

“Earlier, whenever we tried to go towards the airport road, vehicles from Mall and nearby areas would come on the wrong side just to avoid that long U-turn. Now that the diversion is in place, that wrong-side driving has reduced a lot. Many people still don’t know the new change, but slowly the flow is improving, you can actually see the difference on most days,” Srikhant M., a daily commuter said.