Bengaluru: Traffic piles up on Outer Ring Road as IT companies lift work-from-home option

As IT companies have begun calling back employees and are rolling back work-from-home orders, the Outer Ring Road has been choked with traffic almost every day. This has pushed the Bengaluru traffic police and other stakeholders to explore measures to ease this influx.

The Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA) has, for the past 15 years, employed 60 to 70 traffic marshals who have been stationed from Silk Board to KR Puram to manage traffic along with the Bengaluru Traffic Police.

The association has also informed employees to use public transport whenever possible and has ensured staggered login and logout timings for employees to prevent overcrowding during the morning and evening rush hours.

“Our estimate is that the flow of cars has increased by at least 50% between Silk Board and Marathahalli so traffic congestion has definitely increased during peak hours,” said M N Anucheth, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic).

To combat this influx, they have opened up some U-turns below flyovers where preliminary metro work has completed, such as in Ibbaluru. Starting from Monday, the traffic police will also make some U-turn changes at Devarabisanahalli, he said.

They are also trying to remove barricades and speed up the process of asphalting on sections of the road where metro work has been completed to free up the lane and allow for better movement of traffic.

Besides these infrastructure changes, traffic police intend to push for the larger adoption of public transport. Along with stakeholders such as ORRCA and BMTC, they are exploring the possibilities of reintroducing carpooling options for employees and introducing shuttle services between fixed points along the ORR, Anucheth said.

“We have also surveyed BMTC bus stands along the ORR that can be shifted to service roads in a way that won’t inconvenience passengers. This will be implemented with the help of BMTC,” he added.