Construction work is underway on the new loop of the Hebbal flyover. | Photo credit: ALLEN EGENUSE J.
The Hebbal flyover, which recently got another loop for traffic from the Outer Ring Road (ORR), easing traffic congestion, will get another loop in 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 under the expressway and the ORR will finally be segregated into separate loops, which it is hoped will ease congestion.
Currently, traffic police stop local traffic from below and onto the airport expressway alternatively to let it onto the flyover, which significantly increases congestion and travel time.
Once the new loop is operational, all traffic streams will be separated and this manual signal will be removed, allowing uninterrupted flow of traffic, said Pradeep BU, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic, North East Sub-Division).
End of December
Greater Bengaluru (GBA) Chief Commissioner M. Maheshwar Rao recently inspected the ongoing work and directed the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) to carry out work on the new loop to complete the work in the next two weeks.
BDA has erected the steel girders and concrete work can begin. “Once we reinforce the girders with concrete, we need 28 days for it to harden and gain strength. The work will be completed by the end of December,” said HR Shantarajanna, member (Engineering), BDA.
The loop narrows
However, the added new loop will narrow once it joins the Hebbal flyover, likely to create a bottleneck again. The new loop is 7.5 meters wide but tapers to 6 meters when it connects to the Hebbal flyover. “The old overpass only allows for a 6 meter wide lane when connecting. We could have demolished parts of it and widened it to maintain a uniform width of 7.5 meters. But that would have meant blocking traffic on the key overpass for almost two months, which we couldn’t afford,” said Dr. Shantarayanna.
This can become a bottleneck as vehicles have to slow down for at least the last 100 meters on the new loop. However, Mr. Pradeep said that since the traffic flow will be continuous and seamless, this narrowing of the loop will not pose a major problem.
Pile-up at Mehkri Circle
The traffic pile-up at Hebbal flyover has now been shifted to Mehkri circle. Mr. Pradeep said that with the addition of the ORR lane, the end of the pile-up at Mehkri circle already reached up to Baptist Hospital. He feared that adding another loop might push this tail to the Hebbal flyover itself. This would mean that what is saved in travel time on the flyover may be lost on the section after it.
The Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) is seeking to widen the service road at Mehkri Circle to allow free left turn on Jayamahal Road. This requires acquisition of defense land and the BDA is working on the same, sources said.
Published – 8 Dec 2025 20:11 IST
