BENGALURU: The new-look
Church Street may be closed for traffic between 5pm and 11pm every day. A meeting of
government officials and experts considered the proposal to enable more pedestrians to use the street.
Mahendra Jain, additional chief secretary, urban development department, said the 715-metre street, renovated under the
TenderSURE model and paved with patterned cobblestones, has been widely appreciated by pedestrians.
"At a recent meeting with urban experts and officials, we came up with partial pedestrianisation of Church Street for a few hours daily. There were suggestions to close the street for vehicular traffic in the evening, preferably between 5pm and 11pm. This would allow pedestrians to experience the beauty of the street and enjoy their outing. We'll meet other stakeholders and hope to implement the plan," he added.
Plan was to close Church St for traffic on weekend’
Church Street, with around 50 eateries and pubs and bars, has been re-laid with wider footpaths and better right of way with related infrastructure over the past year.
Jain said the initial idea was to close Church Street for traffic during weekends. “While we can still do that, the idea is to open the street only for pedestrians every day, even it’s only for a few
hours. As we have plans to redevelop the streets connected to Church Street, like Museum Road, Brigade Road and MG Road, on a similar pattern, there will be a good network of walking streets in the area in the future,” Jain added.
Parking ban?
Parking was disallowed on Church Street and the boards at designated spots were masked in white material on Tuesday.
BBMP mayor Sampath Raj said he does not know why it has been done and will check. "We even had reserved slots for women,” he said.
