Ring road to ease traffic snarls in twin cities

the state government has at last decided to address the problem of increasing traffic density in the twin cities. the result: sanction of the road project. and that the government means business this time is proved by the fact that it will release rs 30 crore as first instalment. the decision was taken at a high-powered committee meeting in bangalore, chaired by public works minister dharam singh, and attended by water resources minister h.k.patil and district incharge minister a.m. hindasgeri. the proposal is the brainchild of karnataka chamber of commerce and industry, hubli. according to chamber officials, the ring road will begin from the gabbur cross of the pune-bangalore national highway and continue through bidnal village and join gadag road at railway gate. the proposed road will also connect hubli-bijapur highway at 5 km from keshwapur circle. as a road connects kusugal road to apmc yard, the ring road will connect all the three highways in the twin cities. the second stage of the project proposes to connect karwar road with tarihalunkal and bijapur highway. this will complete the ring road. according to rto officials, the density of vehicles has been increasing at an alarming rate since 1985. the vehicle numbers in dharwad in 1998 stood at 1.53 lakh. what is more alarming is that on an average, 1,500 vehicles are registered at the rto in dharwad every month. according to a conservative estimate, about 18,000 vehicles cross the traffic island-kittur chennamma circle, the main traffic hub of hubli, everyday. though the nh 4 bypass has considerably reduced traffic congestion, officials said what clinched the issue was the future projection of traffic increase. as ankola-gutti and hubli-sholapur roads have been declared national highways, the traffic flow in hubli is expected to increase steeply. this is because the two highways connect the traffic island of hubli. taking this into consideration, the chamber has proposed a semi-ring road connecting ankola-gutti national highway at gadag road and hubli-bijapur highway near kusugal road. as the ring road will connect the apmc, it will benefit the farmers of the region as hundreds of tractors carrying farm produce come to the apmc yard, the biggest agricultural yard in asia. the project got a shot in the arm when the chamber members made a forceful plea before minister h.k. patil at a recent meeting in the chamber premises. patil had suggested to the local leaders and chamber members to meet public works minister dharam singh. district incharge minister hindasgeri had arranged a meeting with dharam singh in bangalore.