The Cottonpet Main Road, one of the arterial roads in the congested Central Business District which witnesses a lot of vehicular movement, is all set for a makeover. It will be developed under Tender SURE (Specifications for Urban Roads Execution).
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will be developing the road that connects the city centre to Mysuru Road, Chamarajpete and other areas in south Bengaluru.
Work on the 1.13 km-long road would be taken up soon, beginning with the shifting of utilities, confirmed sources in the BBMP.
Cottonpete Main Road was recently in the news after the road caved in near Super Talkies.
The road runs over a secondary stormwater drain. The drain is nearly a century old. One of the slabs covering the drain collapsed. This resulted in the road caving in.
BBMP officials stated that the entire underground drainage line ran in the secondary drain, which is nearly 10 feet below the surface. “We have fixed the issue. The drain has been linked with a 900 mm diameter RCC pipe, which was later backfilled with wet mix macadam (WMM) and quarry dust. The road was opened to vehicular movement soon after,” sources said.
The road is one of the six main roads and nearly dozen cross roads, measuring a total of 9.81 km, in the Majestic and K.R. Market areas that are being developed under TenderSURE. BBMP officials stated that the work order was issued in September 2017. The road development work is likely to be completed by September 2019.
Salient features
Explaining the need to develop these congested roads, sources said the carriageway in many roads is varied. These areas also witness a lot of footfalls. By taking up development under TenderSURE, the carriageway will be standardised and footpaths improved for the benefit of pedestrians.
Sources also said that the width of the existing footpaths are between 1.2 metres and 2.5 metres, which will be increased to 1.5 metres to 3.5 metres. The drainage lines and water pipelines will be shifted to either side of the roads, while the entire stretch will be lit by LED streetlights on both sides at 25-metre intervals.
BBMP sources said the traffic police has given permission to take up the work. The road will be closed for traffic while the work is in progress, and alternate routes will soon be notified by the traffic police, sources claimed.
However, not everyone is happy with the development. Sajjan Raj Mehta, a trade activist, said the BBMP should first get into a dialogue with traders on the road. “The civic body follows all rules when it comes to development of roads such as Church Street and St. Mark’s Road. Why are traders in Majestic and Chikpete areas ignored?” he said.