Weekends at Bengaluru’s Church Street will continue to be vehicle-free until May 31, the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT), Karnataka announced on Friday. Church Street, a 750-meter-long road located in the heart of the city’s Central Business District connects Museum Cross Road and Brigade Road on either side. The government body has said that similar initiatives will be taken up in other parts of the city as well.
The DULT had initially started the vehicle ban as a part of their Clean Air initiative from November 7, 2020 to the end of February, which was extended. With this, all motor vehicles are banned from entry into the road, starting from 10 am on Saturdays till midnight on Sunday.
Other than promoting pollution-free, walkable streets, the DULT’s Church Street First project has also helped several citizens groups, artists, performers and others to showcase their work and conduct events. The street witnesses a huge crowd of people every weekend, who gather to experience the traffic-free stretch and enjoy the various performances and events held there.
“The traffic-free weekends on Church Street will be continued up to May 31. We want to make some other streets traffic free on the weekends also. We are in the process of planning a traffic-free Gandhi Bazar Main Road. To do the same for Commercial Street, we have already written to Smart City officials. Other streets like the 8th Cross in Malleshwaram are still being planned and we are in the process of collecting some data,” IAS V Manjula, Commissioner, DULT told TNM.
With the Clean Air initiative, businesses on Church Street have witnessed increased footfall on weekends. Some restaurants also used the opportunity to set up outdoor seating facilities.