IRR/Old Airport Rd intersection Pedestrian Issues

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Pedestrian Infrastructure

Naveen, SB & I decided at short notice to take a walk around the Domlur IRR/OAR (Old airport road) interchange to see the pedestrian issues in that area. I am attaching the route we too walking all around. Some points that showed up

1. Bus stop towards the city on OAR spills onto the ramp. Bus stop towards marathahalli blocks traffic entering OAR.

2. Pedestrian have to walk on the street along the entire route including on the ramp with fast moving vehicles approaching us. Absolutely no safe walking place.

3. Have to brave traffic hurtling down the road on all sides to cross any stretch. Very dangerous.

Virtually no pedestrian infrastructure exists in this place & all interchanges in the city are going to have this problem as no effort is taken to put pedestrians in the plan at all anywhere!!! 

Hebbal is worse & Nayandahalli has a chance to fix it but I am sure BDA wont!

Comments

Your views?

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Click on the image to open a larger version. The red blue & green lines are the path we took walking. I have not measured but I would think the route would have been around 500M overall. The zebra rectangles I have used are where we chose to cross but currently there are no crossings marked/indicated on the road. The bus stop icons with the red cross mark are where the current bus stops are on OAR. The ones on 100ft rd & IRR are indicated without the cross mark. I have also marked the Domlur TTMC on the left corner of the picture.

I have chosen to write up the surface option recommendation while Naveen will do the skywalk option, so we can compare & contrast. Open now for your views & suggestions on how to make this more pedestrian friendly. We can apply similar concepts to all interchanges once we are done with this.

Distance

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Quick work! Only one comment at this stage - the distance we covered (marked by colored lines) is 1.2km. The main ramp is 435m, smaller loop ramps are 152 & 190m, larger loop ramps are 370 & 400m.

Broadly there are 2 options

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Broadly there are 2 options available at the surface

1. Lay a good 6 ft feet wide pedestrian walkway with signalized zebra crossings along more or less the path we have taken.

2. Lay a 10ft wide cycle/ped pathway more or less along the IRR/OAR road (as they existed before the interchange came) weaving under the loops & crossing the kaluve with a single 10 ft wide magic box under the OAR.

The second option is similar to an elevated walkway but is more cycle & pedestrian friendly as it is on the surface (the magic box across OAR should be ramped like a road not with stairs). 

Hi, You haven't covered the

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Hi,

You haven't covered the path from the IRR bus-stop in front of DELL, or from the place on IRR, where flyover starts. There exists a footpath, but too narrow, and most of the places, it encroached, destroyed and nullified.

Same is the state on the other side of this road.

I did this exercise of walking on this strech a year back, and here I commented -

http://praja.in/en/blog/s...

Everyday I take this road and then U-turn below the flyover to reach EGL campus. On both sides of the road, I see all the people risking their life walking on the road, motorists and drivers honking on them, very sad state of public. Peak time shows the plight of the commuters/pedestrians.

One thing, which could be done, is to mobilise many pedestrians on this road, tell them to walk in between the road in groups. Idea is really not disturb the motorists, but to show the authorities that we as pedestrians also need our space to walk, they need to clear up the space meant for walking, and remove encroachment as well.

I had raised a complaint on ichangemycity as well about the adarsh building encroachment of the footpath, detailed here. I think, here I need to follow up on the number mentioned in this complaint's acknowledgement by bbmp.

Deepak

 

@dvsquare can you take pics &

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@dvsquare can you take pics & post your suggestions here? also mark the current & EGL busstops on a map so we can include it. 

perhaps a Mumbai type sky-walk?

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Perhaps the team would like to consider the Mumbai type sky-walk solution detailed by me here.

Muralidhar Rao

@Murali, you should actually

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@Murali, you should actually detail it out for this location. We found it is interrupted in most places because of the criss crossing ramps.  

Pictures from the old comment copying here

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This map you attached doesn't include the portion of the flyover and its below area, which is on the EGL side of the IRR.

Also, I have posted the pics on the link mentioned in above comment, Copying here from the old comment.

---------------------------------

Literally no footpath here, I pity those use that road-footpath everyday and public transport, I am wondering, is this the way, we want to promote public transport in Bangalore? A Big question. ???

Check out the below photos -

(1) Start walking, but where to walk? Oh ya, there is some space.

(2) (3) (4) So soon, the end of the footpath, really !!!, now where to walk?

(5) (6) Encroachment also here.. This company in the Adarsh Regent Building has been using this footpath space (govt space, public space I think) as there own private parking space, how unfair is that? and how illegal is that? (Correct me if may be wrong here).
Obviously pedestrians have to walk on the road, risking their life !!!

(7) Couldn't the space below the flyover be used for walking space, I think yes, only lack of planning and implementation I guess.

(8) Oh, finally, I got to enter into footpath here, so, lets walk.

(9) I could manage to walk here in day light, but I am not sure what will happen in rain and night.

(10) Finally, the last stretch of the footpath, couldn't find any stretch, where I couldn't have complained. I think, its my bad luck, public's bad luck, they should learn to live with it. Oh!, I realized it a little late, people have already learnt to live with it, and now risking their lives and walking on the roads. Pity on them.

Deepak

@dvsquare - map

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This map you attached doesn't include the portion of the flyover and its below area, which is on the EGL side of the IRR.

That is why I asked you to plot it on a map. Your pics dont have a context & I cant make ut where these are & what to do about it. So where is the bus stop & what is it that you want here? I will post an event for next week someday around lunch time when we can walk this area. Others around the area can join in as well.

IDS, will plot on map and post.

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ok IDS, will do so and post it.

Another link to the photos which Murali Sir has taken, here is the picasa link.

Deepak

Great pictures dvsquare

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I have had nightmares walking that section from IRR to airport road in the direction of Indiranagar.  What a nightmare.  Your pictures brought back those memories of walking there at peak hour.

Domlur Flyover Pedestrian Issues

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The Problems

1) No proper means for pedestrians to move from Indiranagar side to easily reach Old Airport road bus stops or cross over to EGL side & vice-versa.

2) Improper pedestrian crossovers on Old Airport road to access bus halts; improper pedestrian facilities along IRR from Dell /EGL up to Old Airport road.

3) Improper bus-halt on Old Airport road – presently, bus stop located in way of the mouth of a traffic ramp on one side.

*North is towards the bottom & East is to the left of the picture

Proposed Solutions

1) An elevated skywalk commencing on island south of present location of bus stop on Old Airport road (with stairs /escalator /lift), passing north across Old Airport road & then under exit ramp & then over surface ramp to reach close to bus halt/s on Indiranagar 100-ft road - this would cut walking distance to a mere 200-odd meters. The skywalk can be sloped up or down as needed to pass under /over the loop traffic ramps rather than having multiple stairs for easier pedestrian movement.

2) A surface pedestrian crossing on Old Airport road can be arranged opposite Diamond district /Carlton towers, as marked (near bus-stop on the northern side). Surface crossings can also be easily arranged across IRR (under flyover main ramp) as marked. There is space to develop pedestrian walkways on both sides of the road up to Dell /EGL, but the roadsides have been neglected & need improvements - width constraints at some pockets need to be addressed by level slabs /cleaning up & paving surfaces. In order to provide continuity, the walkway must be extended on Old Airport road (south east side) upto pedestrian crossing near bus stop on opposite (northern) side.

3) There is ample space on the South-east side of Old Airport road, & if the open sewer is bridged for an additional few meters, it has the potential of offering additional turn-in space for buses to arrive at the new bus stop location & also increasing pedestrian space.

Traffic calming measures are needed wherever there are surface pedestrian crossings. Additionally, the existing walkway adjacent the traffic ramp between Domlur /TTMC side & Indiranagar needs cleaning up & improving - currently, it is unused. A similar broken down walkway on the eastern side (Indiranagar to Carlton towers) needs upgradation.

Pedestrian deaths

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Mr. Saleem said that a majority of pedestrian fatalities were reported from Tumkur Road (between Goruguntepalya and 8th Mile) and Hosur Road (between Garvebhavipalya and Electronics City), both below the elevated highway. “These stretches witness heavy pedestrian movement and lack safe pedestrian crossings,” he said.

Source

No Surprise

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majority of pedestrian fatalities were reported from Tumkur Road (between Goruguntepalya and 8th Mile) and Hosur Road (between Garvebhavipalya and Electronics City)

-- these are the two highways with maximum traffic & correspondingly, they have poor pedestrian safety records.

Mention of pedestrian problems in DNA today

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Here you find the story about the pedestrian problems below the Domlur Flyover.

Deepak

City Plus Article

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A major landmark in Domlur is the Domlur Fly over. It is at the junction of old airport road and the inner ring road. It took 4 years for construction by Uttar Pradesh State Bridge Corporation [UPSBC]. It was opened to traffic on 12 July 2006. 

The Domlur Flyover at Indiranagar was built to ease the flow of traffic but it has given birth to a lot of problems to pedestrians. Improper foot paths and missing street lights are causing inconvenience to the Domlur residents. For the city plus article Click here

We need to first clear encroachment on the footpaths

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A few suggestions

(1) First of all, we all should put pressures on the authorities, using the bbmp control room contact number, also through ichangemycity, contacting bbmp engineers, corporators, remove all the encroachments and get the footpath clear from debris, waste etc.

(2) Once, whatever provided for pedestrians gets actually visible, lets think about what more is needed.

The problem happening today is that, concerned authorities in not at all looking at the problems here. I always see corporator Geetha just says "we are recommending this.. and that .... etc etc....". In my opinion, lets pressurise authorities to remove all kind of encroachments, replace any broken slabs, remove any debris or waste on the footpaths, let them make it as per design on paper, and then find/suggest alternatives (workarounds) for the mistakes wrt pedestrians being done while designing/constructing this flyover.

Regarding the encroachment by Adarsh Building, I have raised complaint on ichangemycity here.

I request all the readers of this comment here, please go to this link, sign-up and login and click on "Are you affected?". This might help authorities know that many people are really affected and we care for the solution here.

On my complaint, BBMP has acknowledged it and  commented -

Official Response
BBMP  bbmp : Acknowledged
The complaint has been assigned to Mr. Hegde vide reference ID 95723. He can be reached at 9448094660.

I have called up Mr. Hegde and explained him the situation a few days back, and he told me that he will see to it.

I need to call back now and ask for the update.

I request all the readers also, to call us Mr. Hegde, and ask him about the footpath encroachment by the Adarsh Regent Building, by when BBMP will be able to remove the encrochment? This will help build some pressure on them.

Lets see where it goes.

After this, we need to make calls to bbmp control room 080-22660000, for any othe encroachments, replacement of the broken slabs, removal of debris or removal of garbage from these footpaths.

Deepak

 

More Pictures of the area

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Moving pics over from another post, shouldn't have put these in another post in the first place. Anyway, pics from our Oct 21 walk.

Some pictures from a walk we took around the Domlur flyover. Really hard to get around here in peak traffic times.

Most common walk here seems to be change of direction from Airport Road to Inner Ring Road and vice versa. Coming from IRR, to go to airport road towards HAL/Outer Ring Road side:

Walking from Indiranagar side, towards Airport Road on Domlur side (to catch a bus towards city center) would be another common walk.

And if you have arrived till Old Airport Road, one last sprint to go to the other side :)

Also, not sure if people want to just walk over from Inner Ring Road to Indiranagar. If they do, they have no option but to walk around the flyover area, no path under or along the flyover here.

Map showing popular walk lines

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Based on what one sees, these two are the most popular walk lines around the flyover, from the bus route change angle.

  1. Inner Ring Road to Old Airport Road towards HAL
  2. 100 feet road to Old Airport Road on Domlur side towards City

Javascript is required to view this map.

As a part of 1st step, "to

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As a part of 1st step, "to remove encroachments from the existing footpaths"

I have been trying to get with BBMP people, but no luck yet.

BBMP commented on my complaint on ichangemycity, that I should reach out to Mr. Hegde on phone 9448094660. But I have been trying to talk on him from last 10-15 days, but nothing working out. Now, he told that he is not incharge of that area.

I also raised a complaint on bbmp control room, the complaint num is 108931.

I called them to know the status, and they told that being forwarded to Mr. Hegde, and then I told them he is not taking it up, They gave me AEE's num, 9480683560, Mr. Lingarna.

I request all of you readers of this comment, please make a call to Mr. Lingarna on above number and bring in some pressure from pedestrians side.

Deepak

Have been calling BBMP engg, nothing is moving

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I have been calling Mr. hegde as well Mr.Lingarna, many many times from last 2 weeks, but nothing is happening.

I wanted to do 2 things, one by one, first to get removed the encroachment by the adarsh building (Mistral company and a few more companies work from there).

I called up Mistral contact number, and they told me that they have been given that parking space by the Adarsh Developers, and hence we need to talk to Adarsh people, couldn't get any number to talk to Adarsh Developers on this one.

Once this encroachment thing is solved, I wanted to go for removal of other debris and fixing of slabs on the current narrow footpaths on the both sides.

But here, first one itself is not happening.

I request all the readers and praja people here to call these 2 people -

AEE's num, 9480683560, Mr. Lingarna.

Mr. Hegde on phone 9448094660.

Call as much as possible and pressurise them to solve this issue.

Deepak

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