Construction work under way on the new loop of the Hebbal flyover.
| Photo Credit: ALLEN EGENUSE J.
The Hebbal flyover, which recently got an additional loop for traffic from Outer Ring Road (ORR), easing congestion, will get another loop by the new year, this time for traffic from Yelahanka, Jakkur, and Sahakarnagar. With the addition of this loop, traffic from the airport expressway, local traffic from areas below the expressway and ORR will finally be segregated into separate loops, which it is hoped will ease congestion.
At present, the traffic police stop local traffic from below and on the airport expressway traffic alternatively to let them on the flyover, significantly adding to congestion and travel time.
Once the new loop becomes operational, all streams of traffic will be separated and this manual signal will be eliminated, allowing non-stop flow of traffic, said Pradeep B.U., Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic, North East Subdivision).
End-of-December
Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) Chief Commissioner M. Maheshwar Rao had recently inspected the ongoing work and directed the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) carrying out the work of the new loop to finish the work in the next two weeks.
The BDA has put up steel girders and concreting work is set to begin. “Once we reinforce the girders with concrete, we need 28 days for it to cure and gain strength. The work will be completed by the end of December,” said H.R. Shantarajanna, Member (Engineering), BDA.
Loop narrows
The new loop being added will, however, narrow down as it joins the Hebbal flyover, likely creating a bottleneck again. The new loop is 7.5 metres wide, but as it joins the Hebbal flyover it narrows down to 6 metres. “The old flyover allows only for a 6-metre wide lane while joining. We could have demolished parts of it and broadened it to maintain a uniform 7.5 metre width. But that would have meant blocking traffic on the key flyover for nearly two months, which we could not afford,” Dr. Shantarajanna said.
This may become a bottleneck as vehicles are bound to slow down on the new loop for at least the last 100 metres. However, Mr. Pradeep said given the traffic flow would be non-stop and seamless, this narrowing of the loop would not pose a big problem.
Pile-up at Mehkri Circle
The traffic pile-up on Hebbal flyover has now been shifted to Mehkri Circle. Mr. Pradeep said with the addition of the ORR lane, the tail of the pile-up at Mehkri Circle was already reaching as far as Baptist Hospital. He feared that the addition of another loop may push that tail to the Hebbal flyover itself. This would mean what travel time is saved on the flyover, may be lost on the stretch after it.
The Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) are batting for widening of the service road at Mehkri Circle to give a free left turn to Jayamahal Road. This requires acquiring Defence land and the BDA is working on the same, sources said.
Published – December 08, 2025 08:11 pm IST
