Bengaluru: Jalahalli Cross moves thousands of vehicles every hour. But for pedestrians, one of the city’s busiest junctions offers little more than a choice between broken footpaths and moving traffic.A TOI walk across all four roads radiating from the junction found a striking pattern: pedestrian infrastructure exists, but only in disconnected pockets.On the Tumakuru Road stretch opposite Jalahalli Metro station, one side has no footpath at all. The roadside has effectively become an informal bus bay where BMTC, KSRTC and private buses stop and park, forcing commuters to weave through parked buses and traffic. The ground is uneven, covered with loose gravel and stones, making walking difficult.Ironically, the official bus shelter nearby stands largely abandoned, surrounded by heaps of garbage. Passengers often have to cross the service road and walk onto the main carriageway to board buses.The situation is no better on the Peenya Ring Road. Four bus shelters have become unusable because of accumulated garbage, broken footpaths and misuse as public urinals. A makeshift autorickshaw stand blocks whatever little pedestrian space remains.Yet, only about 100 metres away, the contrast is impossible to miss. A stretch developed under the B-Smile project features a white-topped road and wide, well-laid footpaths, demonstrating what the junction could have looked like had the improvements been carried through consistently.Towards Dasarahalli on Tumakuru Road, while one side lacks any footpath, the other has autos, two-wheelers and shopfront spillovers occupy the road edge. On the opposite side, waste from the nearby vegetable market has accumulated along the roadside.Subroto Mukherjee Road presents damaged drain covers and missing concrete slabs. At one location, a displaced slab juts dangerously out of the drain.Despite years of complaints, a long-promised solution remains stuck on paper. An underpass approved under the CM Nagarothana scheme in 2017-18 has made little progress even eight years later. Although land acquisition has been completed in parts, construction has not begun. The delay also reflects a deeper governance problem. Jalahalli Cross falls under the jurisdictions of both Bengaluru North and Bengaluru West city corporations, with divided administrative responsibility continuing to complicate execution of infrastructure projects.What TOI Saw■ Footpaths disappear abruptly across multiple stretches■ Bus bays have spilled onto pedestrian space, with buses stopping & parking where people should walk■ Bus shelters are damaged or filled with garbage or misused as public urinals■ Parked vehicles, autorickshaw stands and electricity poles block otherwise usable footpaths■ Broken drain covers, missing concrete slabs and unfinished road repairs■ A stalled underpass project and split civic jurisdiction continue to delay long-term solutionsWalk-o-meter 1/5Jalahalli Cross – Junction of Tumakuru Road, Subroto Mukherjee Road and Peenya Ring RoadSafety (Poor)Absence of footpaths, missing and damaged slabs where footpaths exist and garbage dumping forces pedestrians onto the busy national highway and main roads. Buses stop indiscriminately, adding to the risk faced by pedestrians.Accessibility (Poor)The junction is a busy transit hub with a Metro station, BMTC bus stops and pick-up points for inter-city buses. Lack of footpaths and bus bays force pedestrians onto the service road as well as the main road while boarding or alighting buses.Maintenance (Poor)Vehicles parked on the only footpaths available render the infrastructure useless. Broken slabs, missing cobblestones and untarred roads add to the walkability challenge at Jalahalli Cross.Anilkumar Janardanan, retired engineer, Jalahalli West, said: “I’ve repeatedly reported footpath issues on the Sahaaya app, but many complaints are closed without any action. North and West city corporation officials keep passing the responsibility. Even outside Peenya police station, footpaths built with CSR funds have been turned into parking lots for accident-damaged vehicles. Govt agencies and traffic police should lead by example instead of allowing such violations.”Srinidhi Swaminathan, Jalahalli Cross resident, added: “Along Tumakuru Road, footpaths are missing and parts of the road remain untarred, with gravel and jelly stones. The poor approach to the Metro station also discourages people from using public transport.”Bengaluru is not just about IT, said T Vasanth Vete, Jalahalli Cross resident. “Industrial hubs like Peenya generate lakhs of jobs and see heavy pedestrian movement. Nearby roads such as Pipeline Road also have missing or encroached footpaths. Officials must regularly inspect these stretches. After the Supreme Court’s recent observation, clearing or building footpaths only requires the will to act,” he said.Another resident, Nagarajan R, said, buses are parked haphazardly, vehicles routinely flout traffic rules, and there is no proper pedestrian crossing. “everal footpath slabs are missing, making it unsafe for people to walk. On top of that, large quantities of garbage are dumped along Ayyappa Temple Road. These issues pose a serious risk to pedestrian safety.”
