Precious lives are being lost regularly on the roads of Belagavi because of speeding vehicles, some of which are heavy trucks. Some of these lives are innocent student lives, going or coming from School in Belagavi Cantonment. Belagavi Cantonment has some of Belagavi’s oldest and biggest schools like St. Paul’s, St. Joseph’s, St. Mary’s, St. Xavier’s, St. Anthony’s, Islamiya, Cantonment School, B. K. Model, Jijamata School and Kendriya Vidyalaya. Nearly 18,000 students have to report to School early each morning.
Khanapur Road, Belagavi’s main arterial road is used at least twice a day by 18,000 students and their parents. Unfortunately, there are no “traffic calming” measures on this road. Late Shri Suresh Angadiji struggled to have this road widened — and on 22nd November 2019, he persuaded the Cantonment Board to widen this road so that it may have pavements on both sides for safety of pedestrians. (Please see Cantonment Board Resolution.) But no action has been taken place on this matter after his sad demise.
We, as parents, are greatly disturbed by the fact that no infrastructural changes have been made to this road to save lives, nor have traffic management plans been put into action here.
We are therefore appealing to you to kindly have sets of speed breakers installed at various spots on this road as shown in attached plans and a few solutions listed below Each speed breaker, which works silently all 24 hours, all 7 days a week, should be scientifically designed, painted with zig zag white markings and have a ‘Speed breaker ahead’ sign. Perhaps it should also be fitted with ‘cats eyes reflectors’. We are ready to pay for all this. Because we are not prepared to pay with any of our children’s lives, for inaction on account of lack of funds.
We request your kind self to take an immediate action and extend your help to safeguard lives of our children; we have posted below few solutions that can be implemented on immediate basis.
1. Please Stop plying of Heavy Vehicles during the School Hours, 8 AM to 11 AM and 3 PM to 6 PM
2. Install Scientific Speed breakers at all interjections of Khanapur Road.
3. To increase the duration of green signal from 12 seconds to 24 seconds across Khanapur road on Globe Cinema Juncture, (Crossing khanapur road from the Telegraph Road towards Independence road)
4. The traffic signal at Globe Cinema Is not visible to the traffic plying from St. Anthony Church moving towards Globe Cinema. Please install one more prominent signal at the median of the road which should be visible from the fish market or St. Anthony’s Church.
5. Lastly please deploy a traffic police at all the interjection during the school hours.
The most dangerous intersection in Belgavi …’ what can be don0 to save innocent lives being lost over here. The traffic intersection at Globe talkies cinema on Khanapur Road has become a death trap. It is one of the top three intersections in Belgavi which sees the highest.cross flow of traffic after Ashoka Circle and Rani Chenamma Circle. Traffic here is fierce, .undisciplined and almost unmanageableAny lives have been lost here and many people have been badly injured or maimed. Many children use this intersection between 8 am and 9 am and at various times when Schools in’ Camp area break up for a lunch break or in the evenings. Hence,it is very vital that we study this traffic junction very carefully and then come up with a long —term solution. There are five distinct roads,with ten streams of traffic,that use this junction. Some years back, the Belgavi City Corporation consulted Gherzi Traffic Consultancy of Mumbai-to . work out a comprehensive traffic management plan for Belgavi City. Gherzi Consultants counted the number of vehicles using this vital arterial road and found the junction imprpperly configured for such a high volume of traffic. Some major infrastructural changes were recommended, but, sadly, none of these changes were implemented: The Globe Talkies traffic intersection is presented in three stages of evolution. Diagram A represents the intersection as it existed till 1996, Diagram B shows the intersection as it is today and Diagram C shows the intersection as it could be configured.
1) Upto 1996, traffic coming from Gogte Circle and going to St. Paul’s, St. Joseph’s, Jjiamata or K.V. 2,schools, slipped into the road between Globe Cinema ,talkieg southern compound wall and the army personnel quarters. Hence, there was hardly any school traffic at this junction. in 1996, the Army personnel blocked this road (with hardly any “security” gain.)All school going 2-and 4wheeler traffic had to reach the junction to turn left.
1) Upto 1996, traffic coming from Gogte Circle and going to St. Paul’s, St. Joseph’s, Jjiamata or K.V. 2,schools, slipped into the road between Globe Cinema ,talkieg southern compound wall and the army personnel quarters. Hence, there was hardly any school traffic at this junction. in 1996, the Army personnel blocked this road (with hardly any “security” gain.)All school going 2-and 4wheeler traffic had to reach the junction to turn left.
Traffic load over here has increased disproportionately over the last 10 years with Belagavi recording one of the highest registration of four- wheelers,: Traffic coming from Gogte Circle and going past Jijamata School towards St. Joseph’s, St. Paul’s and could easily turn left before Globe talkies.
This entire traffic did not reach the _junction earlier. Traffic doming from Gogte Circle and going to the City’s main market — or the CBT area —which could turn right just before Globe Cinema, and proceed past the Post Office is now unable to do so because of the barricades which were installed in 2020,and has to come to the intersection to turn right.
Earlier this traffic did not even reach the junction. Since in 1996, the left turn before Globe Talkies was prohibited by the Army, and since 2020, when the right turn was prohibited by the Traffic Police, the entire traffic coming from Tilakwadi and flowing towards the schools and the main market of the City, via Amba Bhavan, has to arrive at this intersection. Before 1996, the traffic for St. Joseph’s and St. Paul’s School would find it more convenient to use the rear gates of the Schools and not the gate at the High Street, Camp.
Today this junction is vastly overloaded. In 2022, traffic lights ‘were installed over here — but they have never functioned at 8 am — when school children use this junction most. Also, if there is no policeman standing here enforcing traffic light discipline many vehicles move faster to avoid waiting for even a minute when the signal turns red. This increases the probability of accidents. Since the traffic coming from Gogte Circle is not ‘filtered away’ to the left or right, it piles up at the junction — where drivers drive dangerously when no traffic police men active duty. Since Traffic Policemen cannot be present at this junction for the whole day, we suggest that the following infrastructure] changes be made at this junction.
1. Two sets’ if speed-breakers be installed in the carriage-way bringing traffic from Gogte Circle, one before, Globe Cinema Talkies, one in front of Globe Cinema Talkies.
2. On set of speed breakers to be installed to the, road in front of the Cantonment Board office’s western gate (Khanapur Road Gate), on the southbound carriageway of Khanapur Road.
3. One speed breaker -to be fixed to the road in front of Pranam Hotel in the south bound carriage way of Khanapur Road. Let us remember that speed breakers do their job of ‘calming’ traffic, all 24 hours. ‘ Although this road is a State Highway, there are several speed breakers on State Highways all over.
4. ‘Speed breaker ahead’ signs may be -put up 10 metres before the speed breaker — for which our PTA is prepared to bear the costs.
5. The filter road passing along Globe Talkies’ Southern wall may kindly be opened by the military authorities as it was earlier. Thus the volume of school traffic reaching the junction will he greatly reduced.
6. The right turn before Globe Talkies be kindly r(!stored, so that “bunching” of right turning vehicles does not take place at this junction, or at the Fish market Junction ahead or at Gogte Circle (for the road leading to the railway Station). All this will ease the burden on the Traffic Police and greatly reduce road accidents at this-spot.
The traffic lights here be switched on only when there is a team of traffic policemen present to enforce them.
