Crossing NH-7 is injurious to health

BANGALORE: The routine is surreal for Ramakrishnappa B, 56, who lives on Amruthahalli Main Road and runs a shop in nearby Kodigehalli, North Bangalore. He has a brush with death four times a day -- he has to cross Bellary Road (NH-7) on his way to his shop in the morning, while returning for lunch, and back home. In the absence of pedestrian subways, and a free-for-all at signal lights, he jaywalks as cars, heavy vehicles and two-wheelers whizz past him with little regard for mortals.
“This has become a way of life and no single stakeholder can be blamed for this. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) assumed that traffic signals would be enough to manage the intersections underneath the expressway. They are not manned by police most of the time. People have no time to wait for the road to be free of vehicles, and are forced to jaywalk,” he says.
The Bellary Road expressway, ironically, was billed to be the road to redemption from chaos. But like all wonders conjured in the air, the elevated expressway stands on a ground where the reality is harsh.
The 3.7-km elevated expressway that starts at Hebbal and ends in Yelahanka, spans Kodigehalli gate, Sahakarnagar, Amruthahalli, Jakkur, Allalsandra and Kogilu Cross.
While commercial buildings flank one side, towering apartments and gated communities are springing up on the other side. There are no subways or elevated pathways for pedestrians to cross the highway under the expressway. There are a couple of underpasses ahead of Kogilu Cross and Vidyanagar junctions on this stretch en route to the airport.
Dakshayani S, a tech executive living in Kodigehalli, said hundreds of pedestrians cross the highway even when traffic is flowing, and private and BMTC buses don’t even bother to stop when the pedestrian light goes on. People also take shelter under the expressway from rain or a scorching sun, as there are no bus shelters on one side of the road at Kodigehalli Gate junction, towards Hebbal.