Church Street Bangalore: Pedestrianisation, Trafficless Weekends

The day traffic personnel in Bangalore decide to change the vehicular flow of one street chaos erupts. It takes days and sometimes weeks for the traffic jams, confusions, and congestions to subside and for residents and drivers to get adapted to the new norms.

Church Street end Bangalore

Amidst all this a dream, a plan began to take shape a few years ago! Street with no traffic in weekends – themes which were inconceivable in thoughts even a decade back, became topics of discussion in boardrooms of urban planning centers.

Thanks to joint effort by the state government and companies from the UK for this initiative to make a better cleaner environment in Bengaluru.

wall art on M G Road metro station

Church Street Bangalore

Church Street was once lined with handful trees and some robust buildings from the British era. The compound of St. Marks Church was so big that it could be seen from the street. Many residents who spent their growing years fondly recollect how life was simple and warm with close knit ties. Today, there are no signs of the movie theatres which were a hop away once. It still is an entertainment destination but in a different form.

Church Street is in a prime location. A traffic artery, it runs parallel to the always busy M G Road, the life-line of Bengaluru city. It was used as a service road.

Church Street was the first to have a cobbled stone on the road boldly rejecting the plain asphalt however it did not rid the street of its basic woes. During rains especially the street was in a mess with water logging at several points.

Read about another interesting street: Laad Bazar Hyderabad

The Chaos in Streets of Bangalore

Humans have the inherent nature of surviving within chaos fighting all odds. Somehow the business houses along the street had adjusted and coexisted well. But a point came when the street slowly turned into a nightmare with overflowing sewage and garbage mismanagement. Repavement was done, this time in a systematic manner designing it well to take that entire load.

Cities like Tel Aviv had long implemented the concept of pedestiranisation, converting city centres into pedestrian only zones. That inspired the authorities in Bangalore. In 2016 an Open Street Day was organized in MG Road for 12 hours on a Sunday. Citizens participated in it enthusiastically.

Was it European influence? Maybe, maybe not; that doesn’t matter. A small lung space in the heart of the metropolitan city mattered more.

Pedestrianisation of Streets

The first plan towards pedestrianisation came up in 2015 when the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) announced that the 715m trumpet shaped Church Street road, widening from 30ft width at Brigade Road end to 60ft at St Mark’s Church end, would be redeveloped under the Tender SURE guidelines.

Tender Sure guidelines prioritise the comfort and safety of pedestrians, cyclists and the needs of street vendors and hawkers. They have successful ventures like Richmond Road, Vittal Mallya Hospital Road, Residency Road, officially called Gen. Cariappa Road, to boast about. Huge money was assigned to this project too, 9 crores initially which was raised to a whopping 14 crores.

Naturally the business houses, shoppers and the residents were excited a lot, albeit with a feeling of uncertainty. Some relocated to other parts of the city till the makeover of Church Street was complete hoping to return to the hep street that it once was.

Pedestrianisation of Bangalore streets

Clean Air Initiative in Bangalore

As a part of the clean air initiative, in early November 2020, it was announced that Church Street would be traffic free on weekends. It would belong to pedestrians completely. The restaurants are permitted to extend their seating arrangements onto pavements on Saturdays and Sundays. This idea rattled many and was eyed with a lot of apprehension.

It wasn’t easy to get going; stakeholders were many, most vulnerable being the aged residents living around that area.  For the aged residents, weekend was the time when they met up with their near and dear ones. What if an emergency cropped up, a complete traffic ban would be disastrous. For the shops that lined the street; it clearly indicated a possible dip in sales. Neighbouring streets are worried about how the already existing problem of parking vehicles would get compounded.

Nevertheless the residents’ association, urban city planners, planning officials and politicians worked together to chalk out this unique idea and try it on an experimental basis till February 2021. The lockdown was a great indicator how things can take shape.

For Cycles only

Revamped Church Street Bangalore

A popular belief is that pedestrian only zones contribute to better business, only time can tell if it is true or not. This is also an exercise to encourage the use of public transport.

The revamped street looks great. Pieces of history like an original sign post from the times of the Royal Mysore State are still preserved. They have used energy-efficient LED streetlights, locally sourced cobblestone made of sadarahalli granite stone, red tactile tiles for the visually challenged and ramps at crossings for those on wheelchairs. There are nine parking bays designed for more than 100 two wheelers and sixteen cars. It is a lot more colourful now.

Sign Post from times of Royal Mysore State

Kasuti Patterns with Pavement Bricks

The patterned granite cobblestone reminds one of the cobblestone streets of Lisbon. The designs made not only serves as a traffic calming measure but the ‘Kasuti design’ on it also brings about a sense of the local culture. Kasuti is a traditional form of folk embroidery practiced in the state of Karnataka.

Kasuti work on pavement bricks

Pedestrians and shoppers benefitted the most, as it turned out to be the most favoured weekend destination for many. For tourists to Bangalore who head to Brigade Road and the streets around on a priority basis find this a welcome change and pleasure filled experience.

Revamping of this one street has taught several lessons to the planners, builders and authorities. Surely these learnings will be helpful and a time saver in future projects planned for Museum Road and Commercial Street.

Citizens of Bangalore are looking forward to many such traffic free streets!

Conclusion

Pedestrianisation and restrictions on motor vehicles yielded good result in quality of air. The bigger particle matter levels came down by 90% during weekends. Read more: Weekend traffic ban cleans up air

Did you know about another street in Bangalore that is shut to traffic? Read more: Groundnut Festival in Bangalore

How to reach Church Street Bangalore

The easiest mode of getting to Church street is via metro. The metro station of M G Road has an entry/exit gate on this street.

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