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 Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Location The area is around 45 km away from Kempegowda International Airport and 11 km away from ...

at the intersection of Hosur Road 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 d ...

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, Whitefield and Bellandur) 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 includin ...

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 The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) is a legal entity entrusted for control of pollution in the Indian State of Karnataka. The Board regulates air, water and environmental pollution. History The Board was originally constituted a ...

'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 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, 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 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 ...

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