Monday, June 27, 2011

Elevated road works to haunt Bangaloreans' ride now

If negotiating the traffic on the city roads, which have become narrower due to the ongoing Namma Metro works, is already a pain for you, here is something to add to your woes. Come September, and the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) would start implementing six elevated road projects in different parts of Bangalore, totalling to a length of about 42km.

While digging the roads adds to the traffic mess, the bigger problem is with the alignment of these elevated corridors, which in many places is close to the areas where the Namma Metro project is on.

BDA officials say the project is likely to begin in September and would take at least two years to complete. BDA, which had called for prequalification bid for the project on June 7, termed the project “major traffic-related infrastructure work in the city”. “Once the prequalification bids come in, tenders would be floated to finalise the implementing agency. The project is also part of the promise made in the state budget 2011-12 for the city,” said a senior official with the BDA engineering wing.

BDA commissioner Bharat Lal Meena has said that traffic jams are a big problem in core Bangalore and the elevated corridor project would go a long way in addressing it. The elevated road corridors passing through major traffic hubs in the city like Mehkri Circle, Kasturba Road, Hosur Road and Mysore Road would come up at a cost Rs60 crore a kilometre. The total expenditure in the construction of the six corridors is estimated at Rs2,250 crore.

Even though BDA says the project is a solution to traffic woes, traffic experts raise concerns about the timing of the project implementation as the Namma Metro project needs minimum two more years to take shape across the city.

“The BDA has marked two corridors extending from BRV Grounds, where Namma Metro work is full swing in and around. Also, junctions like Lalbagh, Mysore Road, Anil Kumble Circle, Majestic etc, where the elevated corridor is marked, there are clear chances of the project clashing with the Namma Metro works,” said Ugandhar K, a traffic expert.

Sources in the state government said BDA had been asked to take up such elevated corridor project as Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s much-hyped signal-free corridor had been kept aside.

There are questions about the cost of the project. According to the 2011-2012 budget, only four elevated roads were to be built at Rs60 crore. Now it’s six with the expenditure crossing Rs2,000 crore. 

1 comment:

  1. There are only 3 coaches, not sure how will it accommodate commuters during rush hours.

    ReplyDelete