Truck breaks down after ramming into tree, brings traffic on Bengaluru's tech corridor to a grinding halt

Choked Outer Ring Road on Tuesday. Twitter/@kiranks24

Motorists on the Bengaluru's tech corridor were stranded for hours on Tuesday morning after a truck broke down after it hit a tree which then crashed onto the Outer Ring Road (ORR), bringing traffic to a grinding halt.

"A truck hit a tree near the military gate of the service road near Ibbalur on the ORR and the tree fell down causing traffic congestion. Motorists coming from Silk Board towards Ibbalur  Junction are hereby requested to move on an alternate road route (sic)" tweeted deputy commissioner of police (traffic south division) Sujeetha Salman at 10:46am.

Traffic Advisory '

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Slow moving traffic due to a HTV breakdown in service road from 27th main towards Ibbalur. It will be moved shortly.

Kindly co-operate. pic.twitter.com/KxvUrXnYJC

— ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ಸಂಚಾರ ಪೊಲೀಸ್ BengaluruTrafficPolice (@blrcitytraffic) May 16, 2023

ನಮಸ್ತೆ ಸರ್ ಹೊರ ವರ್ತುಲ ರಸ್ತೆಯ ಇಬ್ಬಲೂರು ಬಳಿ ಇರುವ ಸರ್ವಿಸ್ ರಸ್ತೆಯ ಮಿಲಿಟರಿ ಗೇಟ್ ಬಳಿ ಟ್ರಕ್ ಮರಕ್ಕೆ ಡಿಕ್ಕಿ ಹೊಡೆದಿದ್ದ ಪರಿಣಾಮ ಮರ ಕೆಳಗೆ ಬಿದ್ದಿದ್ದು ಸಂಚಾರದಟ್ಟಣೆ ಉಂಟಾಗಿರುತ್ತದೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಅಧಿಕಾರಿಗಳು ಹಾಗೂ ಸಿಬ್ಬಂದಿಗಳು ಬಿದ್ದಿರುವ ಮರವನ್ನು ಹಾಗೂ ವಾಹನವನ್ನು ತೆರವು ಗೊಳಿಸಲಾಗುತ್ತಿದೆ ಸಿಲ್ಕ್ ಬೋರ್ಡ್ ನಿಂದ ಇಬ್ಬುಲೂರು pic.twitter.com/2pcLq9AhoN

— BELLANDURU TRAFFIC BTP (@bellandurutrfps) May 16, 2023

Salman later tweeted that : "Since the vehicle was stuck between the high tension electric poles, any mismanagement would have led to untoward consequences . Two cranes, two JCBs and two towing vehicles were deployed (sic)".

At 12:39pm, Bengaluru traffic police said the vehicle was removed and traffic movement restored.

Motorists complained of heavy traffic between Central Silk Board and Marathahalli. Many took as long as 1.5 hours to cover even a 2 km stretch. Affected areas include Central Silk Board to Sarjapur/Bellandur, Koramangala and HSR Layout.  Many techies especially those working in Bellandur returned home due to traffic nightmare.

Choked roads in Bengaluru

Netizens took to social media to vent their anger. Dhaval Chaudhary, wrote on Twitter: "Working from cab today in Bengaluru as huge traffic jam between Sarjapur junction till Axa building BTM (~7km)".

I am one of those who don’t buy into the Bangalore always has bad traffic commentary. But today I have lost it too. My usual argument of, if you want to avoid traffic start early, has been debunked. I started at 740am from home and I am still on the road for a 6km commute. WTH.

— g_c_mouli (@gcmouli) May 16, 2023

Khalid Shaik, another netizen wrote: "Started to office at 9 and still stuck in traffic for more than 1.5hrs and Google is showing another 1.5hrs . Very bad traffic jam".

Moved 10 inches in 10 minutes @masaleemips @BLRCITYTRAFFIC1 @DCPTrEastBCP #bengalurutraffic no policemen in sight whole #outer Ring Road jammed @0RRCA this has become a daily nightmare now @siddaramaiah @DCPSouthTrBCP pic.twitter.com/HMG16xMMUv

— Vadiraj (@vadiraj_bk) May 16, 2023

@bellandurutrfps @chairmanbwssb
Loc: Haralur rd, Dinne Anjaneya JN.
JN is already narrow and choked most of the time.
Now Craters have formed (with leaking drainage) for close to 100m causing Traffic blocks & hurting commuters.
Pls repair on priority.@MTF_Mobility @MALimbavali pic.twitter.com/PqkXw0VmeA

— Sudhir (@sudhir21271) May 15, 2023

Peak Bangalore moment. Women working on a rapido bike ride to the office. #TrafficJam #TrafficAlert #bangaloretraffic #Bangalore #roadblock #peakbangalore pic.twitter.com/bubbMj3Qbs

— Nihar Lohiya (@nihar_lohiya) May 16, 2023

In 2019, the state government rolled out the 'bus priority lane', a dedicated bus lane for BMTC buses on the 17 km stretch between Central Silk Board and KR Puram at a cost of around Rs 14.3 crore. But the bollards were uprooted after the Metro work began on the stretch. Metro work took up 4.5 metres on both sides (a total of 9m) which shrunk the road width.

According to the BMRCL's detailed project report for ORR Metro (Central Silk Board-KR Puram), "The ORR/Phase 2A passes through a crucial IT corridor of Bengaluru that accounts for $21.38 billion or 32% of Bengaluru’s total IT revenue of $66.80 billion. This itself is 40% of India’s total IT revenue of $167 billion as per ORR companies association", it said.

"This 17 km corridor with the highest density of S&P 500 companies including several important IT giants like Intel, Microsoft, Accenture, Adobe as well as advisory/financial/management firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley etc, employing 5.5 lakh professional on their campuses.  This alignment has the peak hour traffic speed of a dismal 8Kmph resulting in 470 hours lost per employee per year amounting to a colossal loss of $4.75 billion per annum as stated by the ORR companies association in their representation to BMRCL," it adds.

Namma Metro's Central Silk Board - KR Puram section is likely to be operational by 2025-2026.