TRAFFIC DECONGESTION PLAN

MANTRI SQUARE MALL, MALLESHWARAM

This document provides a traffic re-routing plan so the congestion around the mantri square mall
may be minimized. This plan has both short term & long term suggestions.

Prepared by
OVERVIEW TREES INCREASE
BBMP is attempting to solve the traffic problems that plague Sampige REVENUES
road near Mantri Square mall, by cutting down 36 huge, old trees &
widening the road in front of the mall till the junction of mill corner road Customers traveled longer, farther,
from the current 45 feet to 60 feet, including reduction of sidewalk and more often to tree-enhanced
space in the region.
shopping districts. They stayed
Work orders have been issued to begin this demolition & widening longer, and were willing to pay
without any public consultation with the citizens of Malleshwaram who
more for both products and
will be affected by this move.
parking.
The outcome of the work resulting from this destruction has not been
described, quantified or even thought through in a logical manner. The
Participants rated "Amenity and
ill effects of the destruction in the area far outweigh the benefits that it
is seen to accrue. Comfort" of tree-lined sidewalks

about 80% higher compared to

This document seeks to identify the reasons for congestion, suggest
less destructive alternatives both short term & long term by engineering non-shaded streets. Also, "Quality
the smooth flow of traffic in the area. of Product" ratings were 30%

The mall itself is1.7 million sq ft in area & has provision for 2000 cars. It higher in districts having trees, and
has over 250 outlets, 6 screen multiplex, Bangalore’s largest food court customer service was considered
with 1000 seats. All of this traffic is served by a mere 40 feet road on
better on these streets.
one side of the mall.

Merchants also showed a general

preference for trees, but they

consistently underestimated the

effect of trees on customer

behavior and buying decisions.

Source: streetswiki.wikispaces.com
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THE CURRENT SITUATION
Figure 1 indicates the traffic flow around the mall (white area marked as point A). Green arrows indicate
traffic coming into the area, Blue arrows are traffic going away from it.

One can1 notice from the above diagram

FIGURE

1. Of the 4 sides all traffic use only the

east side of the mall.
2. There is only 1 entry & exit to the mall
accepting & discharging all the traffic
3. Traffic from all directions have to use
Nagappa road & Platform road only to enter &
exit on Sampige road only

The above traffic scheme causes the 3

congestions numbered in Figure 2. The red
arrows indicate the direction in which traffic
gets backed up from the choke points

FIGURE 2
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BBMP PROPOSED SOLUTION
Widening the road in front of the mall from 45 feet to 60 feet for a
stretch of 100 meters doesn’t even address one of the 3 congestion
point leave alone address the other 2 properly (see Figure 3)

Clearly a lane doesn’t make the merge issues at the spots marked to
go away. Also adding a lane for the mall doesn’t require any trees to
go as they do not contribute to the problem.

In international experience a mall which discharges around

3000 cars per hour should have 4 exits in different directions.
FIGURE 3

PROPOSED ALTERNATE DECONGESTION PLAN

Short term
Figure 4 illustrates a short term routing measure to decongest the trouble spots identified.

FIGURE 4
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Lane 1 – Non Mall traffic towards Malleshwaram Circle

Lane 2 – Mall Traffic only

Lane 3 – Towards Majestic

Lane 4 – Mall & Non mall traffic from Majestic towards Malleshwaram Circle

The Key feature of this traffic decongestion is the need to create a

mall traffic lane (Lane 4 & Lane 2). Mall traffic coming from Nagappa
road should to be made to take Lane 2 to the left of the bus stop
island and has a traffic light signal. It must be marked mall traffic only. It can also take non mall traffic
headed towards mill corner

Lane 1 also accommodates the existing bus stop as a bus bay lane with a merge back into lane 1. On
Sampige rd only one lane will continue towards malleshwaram circle. This bus stop holds a constant
stream of buses which interrupt the cross over of traffic into the mall from lane 1 so it is important to get
mall traffic coming from sirur park road away from lane 1. This can only be done with sirur park road
closure.

Lane 4 is the city station traffic. It can be sub divided into a further Mall only lane on the left most edge
which will go into the mall entrance. Lane 2 will merge into this lane on signal. Lane 4 & Lane 2 will
have a traffic light signal

Lanes 1 & 3 are free flowing without signals. It is recommended to physically separate lanes 1 & 4 on
sampige road upto mill corner junction so that there is no cutting across to the mall from people arriving
on lane 1 from Seshadripuram side and people stay in lane 2. This physical barrier is indicated by the
uninterrupted white line in the picture

Lane 2 is possible only if traffic arrives from link

road and is segregated properly ahead of time.
Else at last minute, people will be on the wrong
side and cause chaos to 1 & 2 traffic.. Right
now the sirur park rd exit is very close to lane 1
& the traffic island so people going to lane 4 & 3
have to push their way bringing traffic to
complete halt. So Sirur park road exit to
Nagappa road must be closed. Vehicles
already on sirur park rd should take 2 main &
join link road.

FIGURE 5

In the medium term a new mall dedicated road that is planned towards the SWR end should be
expedited & should contain additional entry & exit to the mall parking. Care should be taken to ensure
that this road disperses traffic away from sampige road ie towards majestic & towards mill corner/11th
main
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Long term
1. Mitigation strategy: Over the long run if
an underpass is built at the mall entrance
to sirur park road, mall bound traffic can
take Lane 1 on nagappa road, turn right
on to sirur park and left at the dedicated
road into the mall. This will free up Lane 3
in which case the mall management may
want to build entrance for their new
buildings in such a way that they can put
another box/overpass for Lane 2 directly
into their new complex parking, leaving
the traffic around to continue uninterrupted
2. Dispersal strategy: Measure the number PCU’s entering & leaving the mall during peak hours
and the directions they are headed & make more entrances & exits to disperse the traffic in
different directions. The additional road to take away some traffic from Sampige road side must
be used to create additional entries & exits.
3. Reduction strategy: Provide parking slot availability information in the form of LED display
boards at locations like link road nagappa road intersection to indicate parking availability. This
is important because for a mall with 1.7 million sqft there should be atleast 7000 parking slots
provided but since lower parking will encourage less vehicles information dissemination on
availability sortage is importantfor people to prepare. This will prevent cars coming all the way to
the mall to find out there is no parking space. The mall traffic also affects nonmall traffic and
hence traffic reduction strategies gain importance. Parking slot availability information should
also be provided via SMS & web. Options like bus/train ticket validation should be explored by
mall authorities to encourage public transport. Bicycle stands should also be provided
prominently to encourage bicycling. This will only make the mall management & owner a better
corporate citizen.