The Central Silk Board junction, commonly known as Silk Board junction, is a

road junction A junction is where two or more roads meet. History Roads began as a means of linking locations of interest: towns, forts and geographic features such as river fords. Where roads met outside of an existing settlement, these junctions often led ...

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

, India. Located adjacent to the Central Silk Board office complex near

BTM Layout BTM Layout (an abbreviation of Byrasandra, Tavarekere and Madivala Layout) or Kuvempunagara is a locality in Bangalore, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Location The area is around 45 km away from Kempegowda International Airport and 11 k ...

at the intersection of

Hosur Road Hosur Road is the part of National Highway 48, erstwhile NH44, which connects metropolis Bangalore and industrial City Hosur. It is a four to eight-lane access controlled highway. The road is part of the National Highway network. The Natio ...

and Outer Ring Road, the junction is known for its bottleneck

traffic congestion Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s. When traffic de ...

as it is one of the busiest intersections in India.

Problem

The Silk Board junction acts as a gateway to the two important IT clusters in Bangalore–the Outer Ring Road cluster (

Marathahalli Marathahalli is an eastern suburb of Bangalore city in Karnataka state of India. The locality is named after the Marut fighter aircraft designed and developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited which has many of its divisions nearby. Connectiv ...

, Whitefield and

Bellandur Bellandur is a suburb in south-east Bangalore, Karnataka, India. It is bounded by HSR Layout to the west, Devarabisanahalli to the east, Sarjapura, Sarjapur Road to the south, and the Bellandur Lake to the north. The Bellandur Lake is the larges ...

) towards the east and

Electronic City Electronic City is an information technology hub in Bangalore, India, located in Anekal taluk. It is one of India's largest electronic/IT industrial parks, spread over 800 acres (3.2 km²) in Konappana Agrahara and Doddathogur villages. ...

to the south. The proximity to these two major hubs in the city, known as the "IT capital of India", has led to bottleneck of vehicular movement at the junction. According to a study conducted by Consortium of Traffic Engineers and Safety Trainers in 2017, the average speed of vehicles at the junction during peak hours is , the lowest in the city. This junction also features among the seven worst traffic bottlenecks in India, a list compiled by

Ola Cabs Ola Cabs (stylized as OLΛ) is an Indian multinational ridesharing company, headquartered in Bangalore. It also operates in other business verticals including financial services and cloud kitchens. A variety of venture capitalists including S ...

as part of a study. The junction is also one of the two most polluted areas in the city (the other being Whitefield), according to Karnataka State Pollution Control Board's survey in 2016, recording high levels of residual suspended particulate matter well above the national permissible limit; the high pollution level has been attributed to the traffic congestion at the junction.

Action

Central Silk Board - a landmark by itself

In 2014, the Silk Board junction bus stop was moved away from the junction towards

HSR Layout HSR Layout (Hosur-Sarjapur Road Layout) is a prominent suburb of South-Eastern Bangalore, India. The locality, initially developed by the Bangalore Development Authority in 1985 has now emerged into a coveted residential area due to its proxi ...

in order to ensure free vehicular movement. In 2016, the

Government of Karnataka The Government of Karnataka, abbreviated as, GoK, or simply Karnataka Government, is a democratically-elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka. The governor who is appointed ...

and

Bangalore Development Authority The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) of Bangalore, India, is a governmental organization (referred to within India as a parastatal entity) and the principal planning authority for Bangalore. Its function, under the Karnataka Town and Countr ...

gave the go-ahead to a controlled access road from the Silk Board junction to K. R. Puram Outer Ring Road at a cost of 121 crore. In 2017, a flyover near

Padmanabhanagar Padmanabhanagar is a posh residential locality in South Bangalore, India, covering an area of 1.68 km2 It's one of the zones of BBMP. Padmanabhanagar has a very famous park called Lakshmikanta Park. This park houses Lakshmi Kantha temple. ...

, which will be part of a

signal In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

-free corridor from

Nayandahalli Nayandahalli is a locality in South Bangalore, India. It is located along the Mysore Road (SH-17). It is bordered by Banashankari, Rajarajeshwari Nagar and the Bangalore University campus (Jnanabharati). It is a major transport junction in Ban ...

junction to Silk Board junction, was inaugurated. In January 2017, the Outer Ring Road

Namma Metro Namma Metro ("Our Metro" in Kannada), also known as Bengaluru Metro, is a rapid transit system serving the city of Bengaluru, India. Upon its inauguration, it became the first underground metro system in South India. Namma Metro has a mix of u ...

line from Silk Board junction to K. R. Puram proposed by

BMRCL Namma Metro ("Our Metro" in Kannada), also known as Bengaluru Metro, is a rapid transit system serving the city of Bengaluru, India. Upon its inauguration, it became the first underground metro system in South India. Namma Metro has a mix of un ...

, estimated to cost 4,202 crore, was approved by the government. The interchange station at Silk Board would cost approximately 900 crore, and would require acquisition of two acres of land of the Central Silk Board office and quarter acre each on either side of the road. BMRCL also announced the construction of a long road-cum-rail flyover between Ragigudda and Silk Board junction. The flyover will be built above the ground while the metro line is planned to be constructed from the surface, making it the first Metro project in which metrorail would run above a flyover. This metro line aimed to make the junction signal-free and was projected to start operation by 2020. The metro line received the state Cabinet's approval in March 2017.

References

{{reflist, 30em Road junctions in India

Problem

Action

See also

References