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Signal Free Corridor projects - need scrutiny (updated)

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Infrastructure

Vinay S, an active member at Hasiru Usiru has obtained detailed information from BBMP on upcoming signal free corridor projects. Many people think that the project(s) need some serious scrutiny for the returns they promise on investments. Its one thing to make a relatively new road like Outer ring road into a signal free corridor, and another to talk about turning more than half dozen radial roads signal free without a clear plan for each and every interesction that lies on the way, or more important, without commensurate or alternate investments on public transport (like priority lanes for Big10 routes). Many feel that without such clarity, these corridor projects may end up being "bottleneck shifting" or "more parking space for free" projects.

Vinay has promised to mail over all documents he has obtained (will upload them here as soon as I get hold of them). We may need to scan and upload some sketches as well.

BTW, use google/yahoo map and check out San Francisco, supposedly an official "sister-city" of Bangalore. Take a look and tell us all how many signal free corridors you find criss-crossing that city . Not many, and not even to zip through the heart of this city in a very car friendly state.

AttachmentSize
Signal Free DPR - Old Airport Road.pdf549.98 KB
Signal Free DPR - Magadi Road.pdf324.21 KB
Signal Free DPR - Mys Road to CSB.pdf514.91 KB
Signal Free DPR - Rajkumar Road.pdf459.2 KB
Signal Free DPR - Bannerghatta Road.pdf392.89 KB
Signal Free DPR - Mekhari Circle to Hope Farm.pdf645.39 KB

Comments

nl.srinivas's picture

lobby

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I strongly suspect a contractor's lobby behind all these road widening and signal free corridor projects. After all, the corporators have spent good amount of money in the elections.

BBMP till today has not come up with any studies before implementing any of the projects. Is there no way to question the way BBMP goes about doing it's work?


silkboard's picture

Thanks Vinay, got the docs, uploading now

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Thank you Vinay for the DPR documents. Let me merge each corridor DPR into a single document and upload here.

idontspam's picture

I think any road with trees

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I think any road with trees on it is a corridor for BBMP.

I wouldnt worry if they did it properly. But they bring disrepute and shame to engineers and the profession of traffic engineering. Maybe they are waiting for IRC guidelines to be translated to Kannada

silkboard's picture

Uploaded - Old Airport Road, Magadi Road

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Was wondering if this should be put up on a wiki instead. But anyway, here are the DPRs for Old Airport Road and Magadi Road. More on their way.

silkboard's picture

2 more ...

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Okay, 2 more uploaded - Mysore Road to CSB, and Rajkumar road.

Let us explore lobby wobby angles later. First see these on their own technical merits, is the plan solid? will the corridors help de-congest? potential for public transport push - priority lanes for buses?

s_yajaman's picture

Pedestrian crossing facilities?

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 Glanced through the Old Airport Rd DPR.  Could not find mention of how many pedestrian crossings will be put up along this corridor.  If this is signal free, I would think not more than 500-600 m between pedestrian overpasses (or 250-300 mts max walk to the nearest overpass).  

No data on current average speed during peak hours along this corridor.  Many of the junctions will mean land dealings with the army.  Not sure how they will manage that.

Can see the pre-cast boxes back in action.  225 days/underpass and 410 days/flyover.  I can see that this corridor is going to be a mess for the next 3-4 years and if our Puttenahalli underpass is any indicator then double it.

Srivathsa

Drive safe.  It is not just the car maker which can recall its product.

Public Agenda's picture

A PRIORI on Signal Free Corridor

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This is not so much about what SB but who and how? The PWD engineers sitting in BBMP 35-40 of them already made a major mess of Bellary road from mekhri circle

The same guys can only see roads for 4-laning and 6-laning in highway makers lingo

A PRIORI we need to observe whether 6-lanes expressways fit a road hierarchy in a city like Bangalore where a majority of other road users will be inconvenienced? What is the answer there? dont think they fit

Its not about what Singapore or LA of San Francisco have or dont have? This is about a locally just solution 

 


idontspam's picture

 The Design Standards that

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 The Design Standards that will be adopted in the Design of Corridor Improvement Schemes shall be in accordance with the Codal Provisions of India as stipulated by the Indian Road Congress (IRC), Indian Standard Specifications (IS) and the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRT&H). Deviations may be considered in planning parameters, if absolutely necessary, considering the Dense Urban Conditions from the present Codal Provisions. These Modifications in the Design shall be adopted based on Sound Engineering Practices

I did break out into uncontrolled laughter at the last line. I am sure they believe road markings aka Rangoli on Roads (RoR) is insignificant and building is more about concrete & asphalt end to end. See table 5.3 IRC: 35 – 1997 – “Code of Practice for Road Markings (with Paints)”. I will take the opportunity to personally audit this piece and show you how they will fail because in all that English top to bottom in the document there is not a single sketch showing how it will look in the end. This is the only engineering team in the world which will prepare DPR's without a single sketch. No money for draftsmen?

Naveen's picture

Await the detailed drawings

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A number of questions remain unanswered :

1) In one of the DPRs (Mys Rd to CSB), they say that since BBMP is pursuing the pedestrian improvement project, provision for pedestrian crossings other than zebra crossings were not being included "for the time being". How can safe crossings be provided later (after construction) when the original designs did not include or make provision for them in the first place ?

2) Does this imply that mass transits such as Metro or Mono or BRT will not feature along any of these corridors ? What provisions will be in place for such construction should the need arise later ? Actually, there is already a need for them along Old airport rd & also, Monorail is already being considered along western part of ORR - these are not mentioned anywhere.

3) What about traffic restraining measures ? With this signal free mania, no one will ever consider using public transport since private vehicle use becomes much more attractive. Who will be using Monorail from Mysore rd to Bannerghatta rd when there will be a signal-free road anyway, without tolls, with subsidised fuel & free parking everywhere ?

I hope drawings can be uploaded - would like to take a look at them.

srinidhi's picture

Traffic numbers cooked up..?

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I am really really surprised with some of the 'study' numbers presented here.. for example the KEB junction near PESIT..I travel this junction almost everyday at 9:15 AM(peak hour) and this place is nothing more than minor junction, with hardly any vehicles turning or jamming at this point..It doesnt even have traffic lights!

Doc says..

This Junction handles more than 5000 PCU / hr. for most part of the day (0800 – 2000 hrs.) This is due to prolonged congestion, which has “forced” the Peak Hour Flows over several hours giving Near Peak Flow for more periods of the day.

Guess according to me this is the biggest lie in the document! I have never seen a congestion at this minor junction at all!

I am sure this is the case with many junctions and roads for all corridors!

11 Crores for a flyover at KEB jn will be an overkill..and all I can imagine the driver being that major part of the money from these projects will line the pockets of useless politicians and bureaucrats !

Vasanth's picture

We have to see the Metro impact before anything could be taken

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 Many of the underpasses and flyovers being  constructed will create problem for future Metro Projects. Many of the Big 10 roads are getting Metro (bannerghatta  road in Phase 2, kanakapura road extension in Phase 2, airport road in Phase 2 (although not clear), omr in first phase itself) and also extension of Mysore road flyover till Jnanabarathi. This 'lift and drop'  magic boxes will impact the construction of this much needed infrastructure. Metro rail alignment may have to take small turns due to these boxes which will impact its speed.

IDD has called RFP for construction of Monorail from Bannerghatta Road - Hebbal. This will be impacted too (This should be extended till CSB, don't know why and who took this decision. BTM is the major bottleneck as of now). 

Second thing is PHPDT after Metro is Live will definitely change. A recent report in Delhi says that around 65,000 car trips have reduced in Delhi after Metro became functional. Here is an analysis on Citizenmatters: 

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/2050-bangalore-environment-trust-road-widening-recommendations.

Again, once people start using Public Transport, we need more pedestrain facilities rather than vehicle facilities. It is the responsibility of Government to think in this direction and promote Public Transport. What we need is clean bus stops, efficient and more number of zebra crossings, sky walks etc. Now, it is like risking your life while crossing the road.

Our Signal Lighting system is one major problem. Our long waiting signal cycles will pile up the vehicles which leads to all these boxes or lift and drop flyovers. Also these are not constructed in a planned manner wasting all the public money. Silkboard Junction Flyover is the prime example. No one is bothering in putting a fix to major 'bugs' in old flyovers.

Single Slogan - BBMP Down Down !!! 

s_yajaman's picture

More missing pieces

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 Here are some things that I would have liked to see covered.

a. Cost-benefit analysis.  The report says that this project is "techno-economically" feasible.  Only costs have been put out.  Where is the quantification of the expected benefits?   

b. Project risks.  Not a word on this.  Given that every project has suffered time and cost overruns, one would think that this would be given some attention.  The Airport Road corridor has defence establishments on either side for a fair bit of length.  Is the BBMP sure that it will not run into land acquisition issues?  What happens if 10 or 20 landowners refuse TDR and take BBMP to court? 

c. Impact on future mass transit projects.  I saw somewhere that Metro Ph 3 (???) has a line along Old Airport Rd.  Again nowhere mentioned.

d. Options considered.  What other options were considered?  Junctions in Bangalore suffer from low throughput simply because of chaos caused by poor engineering and poorer user behaviour.

Srivathsa

Drive safe.  It is not just the car maker which can recall its product.

Ravi_D's picture

@Vinay - Dwgs

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Do you have access to copies of drawings and Annexures? Those will clearly show us what is planned (or not planned) for pedestrians.

sanjayv's picture

We need drawings and split up work

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 We need the drawings for a meaningful analysis of the DPR.  Some language, like what IDS pointed out above

The Design Standards that will be adopted in the Design of Corridor Improvement Schemes shall be in accordance with the Codal Provisions of India as stipulated by the Indian Road Congress (IRC), Indian Standard Specifications (IS) and the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRT&H). Deviations may be considered in planning parameters, if absolutely necessary, considering the Dense Urban Conditions from the present Codal Provisions.These Modifications in the Design shall be adopted based on Sound Engineering Practices

These are standard disclaimers in every DPR of the BBMP and BDA.  This is the basis on which the engineers provide 1.5 lane width service lanes for these flyovers or allow a bottleneck where land acquisition is a problem.

I think it will also be wise to split up the work on the basis of familiarity with that particular corridor. I am most familiar with the old airport road corridor compared to the others and would love to dissect that DPR.  Already noticed one clever little manipulations in there, but need drawings.

SB, if the drawings are huge paper ones, I have some experience in scanning by sections and stitching.  Can help there also.  Let us really analyze these plans and raise questions folks.  This is going to disrupt our lives - the least we can do is make sure it is worth it.

 

Ravi_D's picture

Two Qs

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All this bla bla seems to be oriented towards helping them "justify" the need. So, here are two  simple questions to BBMP and Manasa Consultants (who seems to be the guys behind this study). Saying and proving we have congestion is not good enough justification to build something new. Building something may not automatically improve end-to-end travel time.

1. Can you show us numbers and metrics for what is expected after all this is implemented and how do we plan to measure it? Where are the funds for a post project study? What do we really expect to gain out of it? If we cannot prove conditions will improve.... you know the answer.

2. Show us a lessons learnt study of what is already in place in Bangalore, and how it is applied in this set of projects. To help understand, by lessons learnt, I mean the following exercise. Take each of the flyovers and underpasses we have already built in the city. Take also the numbers before and after. Look at what we expected to achieve by building it. How long did it take? How well did it meat the objectives in decongesting traffic? How much did it improve general quality of life for the citizens? If the results weren't good enough, did we understand the reason? Did we apply the learnings in this new project? Isn't it our duty to make sure we apply public funds to give us best possible returns?

Well, I know, these two Qs easily transform into twenty others... But that is how life is in the projects world. You need to keep asking and answering the same two Qs, however uncomfortable it gets, for something better to come out. 

nl.srinivas's picture

missing

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Options considered.  What other options were considered?  Junctions in Bangalore suffer from low throughput simply because of chaos caused by poor engineering and poorer user behaviour

This is what is primarily missing in the DPR.


silkboard's picture

Drawings awaited

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Vinay has a few drawings as well, 2 ft by 2 ft apparently. In the process of getting from him, and figuring best way to scan and upload here. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, a serious request to avoid opinionated bashing please, talking around the specifics in the DPR would be best, makes for high impact discussions. You never know who'd read what we write here and get influenced.

nl.srinivas's picture

Basis of taking up the projects

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If you just want to discuss the DPR then you have already accepted that these "solutions" are OK and we need to make sure that they should be implemented sensibly.

Though it is a nobel intension by itself , I clearly beleive that these projects have been decided without considering all aspects of the problem, the major ones being poor road engineering, poor driving manners and poor law enforcement.

Shouldn't we be discussing about these  issues also?

 


silkboard's picture

2 more DPRs

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2 more uploaded just now, so I am done uploading all DPRs I got from Vinay, will upload scanned sketches via help from Rithesh Sanjay etc.

@nl.srinivas - I meant to say lets talk solutions, bashing is fairly easy. But, free to discuss all you want.

ashok_n's picture

BG Road - Signal Free DPR - Comments

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Here are my comments regarding the BG Road signal free DPR. I live close to BG road and daily commute by this road and so well aware of it.

1. Hulimavu Road and Hulimavu Gate Junctions - It is a minor junction now, without even a traffic signal. Also Hulimavu Gate is a minor junction, though it has a traffic signal. I feel there is no need for a flyover at this junction now. Probably 3-4 years down the line but definitely not now.

2. Arakere Junction - Underpass/Flyover absolutely & urgently necessary. I feel a longish Flyover - instead of Underpass, as per DPR - which will extend beyond the nearby T-junctions ( road leading to VijayaBank layout, and the road leading to Panduranga Nagar/ JP Nagar) is what is required. The flyover should start from IIMB till BPL bus stop (on the Hulimavu side).

3. Billekahalli and ORR-BG Road junctions - What will happen to the BTM 29th main junctions in between these two junctions? I guess the medians here will be closed and U-Turns ahead will be introduced... Not a bad idea, as such... but bigger vehicles will have problems with the U-Turn instead of the right-turns currently.

4. Swagath Road - BG Road junction (at Sagar Hospital) - No plan here?? These is the 2nd worst junction in this stretch (after Arakere junction).

Personally, I dread the day when these constructions would start and road will be blocked for 2 years atleast. May have to consider shifting out temporarily :-( .

aj's picture

Signal Free DPR - Rajkumar Road

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This signal free corridor is till Okalipuram only. Wheras the bottleneck on this road is only after this point, till the beginning of Anand Rao flyover. There are two Railway brdiges here. If they make othe roads signal free till here, these bottlenecks are going to get much worse, and they have no solutions planned for these bottlenecks.

 

One more point is, there are underpass/flyover at seven intersections on this stretch. But there exist more than seven intersections, so even after completion of these projects, the traffic till get stuck at these other intersections and they will have to put up signals there.

Naveen's picture

Dividers will make them Signal-free

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Ashok & AJ,

I believe the intention is to close out all other intersections with median dividers so that there will not be right turning traffic, thus making them "signal-free".

murali772's picture

let's at least contain the damage

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@nl.srinivas
Many here have been critical of the signal-free corridor concept right from the very beginning itself. But, whether you like it or not, a majority of the citizens appear to have endorsed the idea by bringing BJP to power in the BBMP. The option remaining for us now is to get into the details, and see if we can point out the pointlessness of the exercise even now, or at least contain the damage to the extent possible.

And, discussions on other issues are going on here simultaneously, anyway.
 

Muralidhar Rao
murali772's picture

Q's all the way

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"Bellary road from Hebbal Flyover to Minsk is an example of engineering you wont find even in sub-saharan africa" can't put it better than IDS has done here. If that's the model being followed, God save the city.

Muralidhar Rao
silkboard's picture

@Vinay - let us request/demand a briefing?

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Many say signal free was not needed on some of these corridors. Many of us here want such investments to go to public transport efforts instead. But most of the non-activist types (for lack of awareness, or whatever you may say) want more roads, fly overs, and less of signals.

How about we request BBMP (I think BDA, because they 'manage' signal free roads) for a public briefing to

  • Explain the benefits they expect from these Signal Free projects
  • Quantify these benefits
  • Plan on how will they measure, and realize the benefits

Let this not be a hearing, because such 2-way meeting is hard to manage, various groups will either fight amongst each other, or individuals will talk about problems next to their houses.

So, let us demand a public briefing. Just come and explain, we will listen patiently. And digest all information, and the we (various groups in their own ways) can respond offline, or via email etc.

This way, we let BBMP/BDA explain what they are doing and why. And we get our chance to digest and respond in factual ways.

Vinay - if you are game, and can rally your HU colleagues around, let us publicize around to other groups, and websites like Praja, and request (or demand) this briefing.

s_yajaman's picture

To be clear

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 I don't think too many of us oppose corridor improvement per se.  BG Road e.g. is in desperate need of improvement.  Footpaths don't exist for long stretches.  There are bottlenecks (MICO stretch).  Arakere Jn is a mess.  Arterial roads being 3+3 lanes with good wide footpaths, proper junctions, pedestrian crossing facilities, lighting is needed.  Else the "sub saharan look" will continue to haunt us till 2020.

But do we really need to spend Rs.137 crores on this?  There are plenty of other problems (water, electricity, garbage, schooling) that can use this money.  

Srivathsa

 

Drive safe.  It is not just the car maker which can recall its product.

idontspam's picture

 But do we really need to

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 But do we really need to spend Rs.137 crores on this?  There are plenty of other problems (water, electricity, garbage, schooling) that can use this money. 

You hedging now mate, for every problem that you put money on there is always an alternate problem that can use it wisely.

Believe me out of the 12 Trillion US dollars that our country needs to prevent a civil war from breaking out 137 crores gives you a cheap and lousy solution. It has taken govt so many years and so many lousy contracts to realise that quality wont come with L1 bidding. This is something that needs to be done.

Now dont let that make you believe I like BBMP's corridor plan, far from it, if I put all the roads they have listed together none of them form any corridor with any purpose. I always maintained we only needed one corridor each North-South East-West  connecting the NH7 & 4 that pass thru town. 

ssheragu's picture

signal free corridor

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ssheragu

I personally feel that the signal free corridor is not a bad idea; rather it is a good idea;

but any signal free corridor should be free of signal for at least a length of 30 Kms; probably we at Praja can pick out a proposed signal free corridor and identify the junctions where underpasses and flyovers can be constructed and submit our plan to BBMP; I feel that for a length of 30 Kms., an underpass can be planned every 5 Kms or every 3 Kms (in thickly poulated areas) 

are Praja brothers game for this

many thanks

Srinath Heragu

Naveen's picture

Signal free okay if...

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Signal free roads can be provided along busy thoroughfares if :

1) Proper pedestrian facilities are included in the designs first, such as :

(a) Good, wide sidewalks of even height; (b) Frequent low height underpasses for street crossings without many steps to ascend or descend positioned about 500m all along the length of the signal-free route, particularly at critical points that see a lot of commuter crossings;  (c) Barricades along the edges of motorways to prevent & protect them from straying on to the roads from sidewalks;  & (d) traffic taming measures at bus halts with speed restrictors to prevent speeding accidents to pedestrians who might tend to cross streets (since the barricades would be disjointed at bus stops).

2) Public transport is given priorities & facilities such as contra-flow along one-ways, appropriate bus bays at all bus halts, right of way along one lane on the left, pedestrian wardens at busy bus stops that see a lot of commuters to monitor street crossings through barricade openings.

3) Mass transit options are taken into consideration in the design stages itself for possible future needs instead of closing up the road fully for construction later; or piers can be installed for proposed Metro /Mono along these roads to prevent another construction closure later.

4) Private transport is discouraged simultaneously with restrictions such as heavy parking costs within CBDs. In other areas, parking charges can be based on road use patterns & on demand. Road tolls are an option, but this will have to be electronic with gantries & windshield display cards, which will cost a lot, but has the potential of quick recovery through revenues.

 

All these should be fully addressed in the blueprints first instead of making piece-meal efforts & leaving them for later with promises such as "BBMP will look after it, hence these are not being considered for the time being", etc..

BTW, any progress on the design drawings ?

nl.srinivas's picture

Cycle tracks

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The DRPs could have also considered dedicated lanes for public transport and cycle tracks.

Now are these DPRs final? Is there any scope for imporving them or modifiying them or reject  them altogether?  If yes,  how do we go about it? How do we translate the discussions that are happening here in to action?

@murali

I just hope that you are joking. Which party today can calim that they are endorsed by majority of the people?

 


ssheragu's picture

SIGNAL FREE CORRIDORS

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ssheragu

I am fully in agreement with Naveen;

Naveen's idea of underpass with least number of steps or suitable slopes rather than skywalks for pedestrains is akin to mine;

nl srinivas also has very wisley considered the requirement of cycle tracks in the blue prints

further all of us have good some constructive ideas; regarding translation of these into actions, why we do not have a meeting; therer we can discuss amongst ourselves, come to some general agreement on road designs and models and pass on the same to BBMP / BDA and ensure its implementation;

are we game for this?

many thanks

Srinath Heragu

JanmaBhumi's picture

SIGNAL FREE CORRIDORS

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Hi All.... I am relatively new to this board, but a reasonable Bangalorean to like to see it grow in a decent way.

I read through the pdf posted here, for Magadi road (as i use it all the time). I do see some traffic analysis but not useful to figure the following..

1. There is no statistical analysis as to how much time it would take for say an Auto or Bike or Bus to move through say 5 Kms on this road say from Basaveshwaranagar T to the Prasanna Movie House...

2. If we know the above then we start looking at where the time is spent and how to clear it

I have seen underpasses and overpasses which have resulted in very little over all effect. Classic example the cauvery theater underpass. The over all result of these projects might clear one thing but moves the problem to an other point just 500 m away.

Look at Ananda Rao Circle + Maharani College work, the under pass wall at the Maharani College junction comes inside the limit of Seshadri Road... Amazing thought and engineering, Sir MV (http://en.wikipedia.org/w...) who is standing just round the corner.... not sure what he would be thinking....

In general there is not much I can say about the over all Engineering of Civil works around the city...

I think, for the most part we lack vision and a will to "think through" engineering problems. All kinds of Hach Pach solutions.. perfect Software way to doing things, unfortunately this is Hardware.. cant fix or provide patch in next release :) (Excuse my technology lingo)

Thanks to all of you, lets encourage our neta/babus and the government agency engineers to think through problems and provide complete long lasting solutions.

idontspam's picture

Underlying issues

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In general there is not much I can say about the over all Engineering of Civil works around the city...

Welcome to the club, this is the underlying problem of Bangalore. incapable so called civil engineers planning/implementing road projects. If you let the businesses run it they will put roads all over, if you let the greens run it you will have to hop from tree to tree to get anywhere. Who is driving the balance I do not know. Hmm... maybe Praja?? what say?

Naveen's picture

To be fair....

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Agreed that BBMP is trying to apply quick fixes & patches here & there with the land limitations that they have in the vain hope that traffic loads can be dealt with, & in the process, are ending up, making a mockery of themselves.

However, the inability of our system to come up with solutions for land acquisition where needed for public needs such as road widening or for flyover /underpass construction is one of the key factors for the mess on our roads.

We are placing individual interests above the city's needs here. If city municipalities cannot acquire land & pay fair compensation for much needed land for infrastructure, we will continue to have chaos on all our streets.

A procedure something like acquisition of three or four adjacent properties (two or three plots behind the one necessary for road widening) & then auctioning the land acquired (either as one piece or as 2-3 plots, newly demarcated after retaining what is required for public works) might fetch much higher returns. With these returns, original plot owners can be paid off - probably much higher than what their land values had originally been since the road will become much more attractive with proper lanes, sidewalks, etc. attracting commercial interests.

Unless the land acquisition riddle is solved & ways are found by which the corpn can easily acquire land for various development works, nothing dramatic will change. In this respect, land owners must be well compensated in such manner that they do not challenge the acquisition. Apart from the present offers of TDR, something far more substantial is necessary to get people to part with the necessary land.

murali772's picture

land/ property re-constitution

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@Naveen

A procedure something like acquisition of three or four adjacent properties (two or three plots behind the one necessary for road widening) & then auctioning the land acquired (either as one piece or as 2-3 plots, newly demarcated after retaining what is required for public works) might fetch much higher returns.

This Bangalore-based company is amongst the primary consultants in this kind of work (check http://praja.in/en/blog/murali772/2009/12/24/reconstitution-land-and-property-new-alternative-tdr) across the country, particularly Gujarat. Even for Bangalore's Peripheral Ring Road, where it intersects the Bellary road, they have submitted a pilot project proposal months back. Last heard, it's still gathering dust in some BDA/ BMRDA office.

 

Muralidhar Rao
murali772's picture

well-engineered roads

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When we have ready at hand the services of a Mr Vivek Menon, whose company has so beautifully re-engineered the entire stretch of the Vittal Mallya road - check http://praja.in/en/events/2010/06/monthly-face-face-meeting-june-2010#comment-22393 and http://praja.in/en/blog/psaram42/2010/06/12/praja-face-face-meet-vittal-mallya-road-june-12-2010, after having completed lot bigger highway projects in the US, particularly in Houston, why do we have to continue to suffer the deeds of the 'fossils' in our BDA/ BBMP/ PWD, who have been responsible for the 'masterpieces' such as at http://praja.in/en/blog/murali772/2009/06/19/subramanyas-legacy.  

Whether with signals, or without, what we want are competently engineered roads. If the state can provide that, there will be far lesser resistance to 'development'.

Muralidhar Rao
JanmaBhumi's picture

Pavement

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I looked at the "well engineered road" post. I was thrilled to see the 3" pavement.

Most roads in Bangalore are lined up with Business, Cross streets etc. The City is setting up these pavements which are almost 8-12" from the neighboring ground.

Bring a disabled person, I find it very difficult to walk on the pavement, with some many breaks and the fact that I have to get off and on these tall step like barrier. Most often, I have to ask some fellow walker to give me a hand to get on and off.

We are spending tons of money on roads infrastructure, but the things we are creating is no way close to even 19th century thought elsewhere in the world... What are we doing ? Once again mostly, filling individual pockets at the cost of the community, city, state, country ?

(Don't intend to sound cynical.. )

JanmaBhumi's picture

Synchronized Singaling

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179 users have liked.

How about creating these corridors with standard width, with extra spaces for left-right turns and setting up "Synchronized Signaling" set up which could be adopted depending on the traffic level, time of day and even the days when the "Neta/babu jamburi hits the road" :)

A lot of times I have observed that a car/bus wanting to do a right is on the far left because he/she got a chance to get there first, without forethought where he/she was going next.... so spacing or turn lanes on major streets are extremely essential. (Ignoring 2 wheelers, as they slither like snakes to get anywhere.. and autos too... the booty gets big but most auto-drivers only realize the slim fore-end :) )

ssheragu's picture

signal free corridors

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214 users have liked.

ssheragu

Hai All

coming back to signal free corridors, we may take it to its logical conclusion;

since quite a few of us have common views and appraoches, like minded praja brothers should meet and identify a road to start with (like old madras road)  and draw up a plan for making it signal free for its entire length of 30 Kms or more. in this context I feel that nl srinivas, naveen and myself can meet on this issue

many thanks

Srinath Heragu

naveen_blr's picture

Signal Free ORR (SilkBoard to Hebbal)

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192 users have liked.

Govt has made a promise to provide signal free drive from Silk Board to Hebbal.

 

Iblur Flyover is technically not the best - There is a signal below it for vehicles moving from Sarjapur -> ORR, ORR (Service Road) to Sarjapur and finally Silk board to ORR so whom does the Flyover benifit? just vehicles moving from ORR to Silkboard? This could have be planned in a better way?

 

idontspam's picture

 This could have be planned

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215 users have liked.

 This could have be planned in a better way?

We will never know unless they show us before & after traffic scenarios from transmodeler. 

ssheragu's picture

signal free corridors (silkboard to Hebbal)

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220 users have liked.

ssheragu

why only from Hebbal to silkboard; it can even be beyond on both sides;

but prior to that, is it possible to get information on this, so that we can suggest ways of realiziing truly a signal free corridor

many thanks

Srinath Heragu

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