The proposed six-lane corridor is expected to result in chopping of about 150 well-grown trees. The widening entails felling of about 150 trees on both sides of the stretch, besides occupying a good portion of the historic tank. It'll/It'd destroy the beauty of one of the posh localities of the City.
There's a concern over the threat faced by pedestrians, especially students of four major schools located in the vicinity or close to the proposed corridor - Stella Maris, Poorna Prajna Education Centre, Kendriya Vidyalaya and the Government Boys' School. The safety of schoolchildren on the six-lane high speed corridor would be a major challenge.
The widening will cause damage to the existing green cover on the Sankey Road. The long-term benefits of this corridor are questionable especially when the metro, monorail and HSRL corridors are being planned in the vicinity. The project would cause damage to Sankey Lake. The axing of 150 trees will/would affect the sensitive biodiversity in and around the Sankey Tank.
The rationale of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike or BBMP in constructing a six-lane high-speed corridor in a residential area is questionable and we're yet to know whether pedestrians' safety has been factored in while designing the project plan. The Forum had sought Detailed Project Report from BBMP under Right to Information Act and nothing has been heard even after lapse of three weeks.
Tree-felling should not be a solution to avoid traffic jams. Tree-feeling would lead to ecological imbalance in the surrounding areas.
The cost of the project had allegedly escalated from Rs. 30 crore to Rs. 33 crore due to re-tendering.
Link to e-Petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/4/say-no-to-sankey-road-widening
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Comments
Alternate solutions?
Some simple questions
Another petition to force BBMP to do the following will be good
What I am saying is that while one group of people (HU/ESG in the fore) go out reactively, some of us should go in parallel and force pro-active green actions from BBMP.
Trees are as old as 200-300 years
SB, currently traffic volume on this stretch is not high.I have travelled on this road aplenty. It is simply a crazy idea of a corporator / MLA / commissioner just like the Tagore circle.
These trees are as old as 300 years, to get a similar tree, we have to be alive 300 years. Moreover, it gives lot of shade while travelling.
solutions have been there from ages
The simplest and most cost-effective solution, not just for this road, but for the entire city, and not for just this problem, but a host of them, was proposed by me ages ago - check this. But, it will not serve the vested interests, and consequently, will not find favour with the powers that be, unless of course the people start demanding it.
It takes many years for the saplings to become full-grown trees
Unfortunately it takes many many years for the saplings to become full-grown trees.
The politicians, official and citizens need to be educated about the importance of tree lined / canopied roads, which give us shade, cool natural air/breeze and absorb carbon-di-oxide.
People should be encouraged to walk, cycle and use public transport as much as possible.
The idea about another petition to persuade the BBMP to establish a cell to study and monitor city's ecology and to list steps taken by BBMP to improve city's greenery is definitely a good one.
This plan of killing trees is
This plan of killing trees is total nonsense. The stretch form Cauvery Theatre to Bhasyam circle is wide and does not jam. The only thing that jams is the Sankey tank bridge and that problem can easily be solved by building an underpass here. There is ABSOLUTELY no reason to cut the trees here.
Ramesh
un-scientific road widening is very bad..
the widening is being done without any traffic study of any kind..I have seen the sankey road too..the trees there are beautiful!
The problem is with the Bhashyam circle which has 6 major roads coming together..a solution is needed there at the junction and not with the sankey road!
The problem everywhere in Bangalore is about the junctions and not usually with road widths...but no one ever understands..including the so called experts!
Traffic study
the widening is being done without any traffic study of any kind
Underlying problem of the entire planning process!!!
CMO's fwded Sankey Road petition to Principal Secy UD
The Karnataka Chief Minister's Office or CMO was one of the several/many recipients of the online petition. The CMO's forwarded the Sankey Road petition to the Principal Secretary Urban Development.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/4/say-no-to-sankey-road-widening
The link letter that's beside the icon view whole petition may please be clicked to view / access the most condensed version of the petition without images / photos (which is updated constantly if required).
Subject: Fwd: Say no to widening of trees-lined Sankey Road
Date: Friday, 14 May, 2010 10:42 AM
From: Chief Minister of Karnataka
To: Principal Secretary Urban Development
Cc: Syed Tanveeruddin
Original message
From: Syed Tanveeruddin
Sent Date: Thursday, 13 May, 2010 5:00 PM
What exactly do we want?
Don't mistake me to be a supporter of BBMP's tree-felling plans please. But, I think the reason we have only been fighting and reacting to such projects, and have not influenced BBMP's thinking process is because we are not focused on what exactly we want.
Its easy to say these are all linked, and they certainly are. But when you agitate or run a project, the message for each agitation/project must be crisp and clear. Mixing them leads to dilution of support and enthusiasm.
I think our message is not getting across to BBMP, and petitions worded with mixed objectives make us look reactive.
BBMP agenda of its own..
The road widening plan and other 'projects' of BBMP..all form part of a vicious scheme!
They cut beautiful trees all along the road in front of jail(freedom park) and palace road to widen road..now they are scratching their heads with the same traffic problems at the next junction (hudson circle).
All the widening led to was just shifting the jams!
And with the widened road they are trying out all sorts of combinations (two way with one way only for LMV's etc)
Todays news sayd they are planning an underground road at avenue road to be done by 'leased/rented' TBM's..
..on one hand we are announcing TTMC's to move traffic out of majestic and on the other BBMP plans underground roads..do they even know how many vehicles use Avenue road?
Road widening is the best way to utilize state and central funds
I didn't find enough time to draft/create the petition. I've underlined the important points. Unfortunately not many people will/would sign the proactive petitions.
Civic agencies / bodies in the state and country are getting money in crores (JNNURM / CM's special grants) in the name of development.
They want to concretize all the open spaces and the effect is there for all to see in the form of increased temperatures all over the country.
Most houses in each and every locality / area in each and every city have more than one two-wheeler and at least one car. Sometimes there's more than one car. Most cars are parked 24/7 outside the residences.
I agree with SB that we need
I agree with SB that we need to point out exactly what the problem is and what we want out of them, as othewise the BBMP does whatever the heck they want to.
In this particular case, for example, I dont think a moments thought has been given to what causes the jam at Bhasyam circle. And whether some management initiatives can be done to improve it.
For one, a days observation will show you that there is NEVER A JAM on the side Bhasyam Circle on the road to Cauvery Theatre. The only jam is on the Sankey Tank Bridge. So cutting and widening this stretch of road will not make the slightest difference.
What is the cause of this jam - well - it is clear. It is the `simplest' route from Malleswaram and Yeswantpur to the city and airport. It is not the shortest, but it is the tradiational route and the one people do without thinking about it.
What really needs to be developed is an alternative route to the city from Malleswaram. As I have harped on on several prior occasions much can be gained by reversing the direction of Sampige and Margosa road. Much of the traffic from Yeshwantpur and Malleswaram can go straight through there - and then to Race Course Road and on to Chowdiah road and the city.
Right now this is a possible alternative but involves making several turns - one goes down Margosa, left at 5th Cross - Right on to Seshadripuram Link Road.... and finally to Race course road..... This could be simplified.
This would cut down traffic going from Malleswaram to the city throught Sankey Bridge.
Ramesh
It is the `simplest' route
It is the `simplest' route from Malleswaram and Yeswantpur to the city and airport. It is not the shortest, but it is the tradiational route and the one people do without thinking about it.
SO all you need to do is put the whatchamacallit board that we have fancifully installed to display "bump ahead" and based on the length of the jam at Bashyam circle instruct people to go a little ahead till Mekhri circle & take CV Raman avenue to yeswantpur instead.
Past Bashyam circle the road on the sankey tank bund is 4 lane only right what are they going to do about that? You cant have 3 lanes of tracffic converge into 2 lanes, this is the mistake they are doing all over the city, creating absolutely chaotic merges, you can see the effect under KR Puram bridge
The back up on the signal free Bellary road is faaaaaar worse than bashyam circle. Let them prove their capability to remove jams on a SIGNAL FREE road before they can touch another junction in Bangalore with a barge pole.
To me none of this is about trees, its about the absolute lack of traffic engineering on the roads. Its a free for all on the streets, create your own lanes, merge when you want, sort it yourselves with fisticuffs is the attitude. Bellary road from Hebbal Flyover to Minsk is an example of engineering you wont find even in sub-saharan africa. Sorry but monkeys may do better.
Reduce the Signal Cycle Time on Bashyam Circle
One easy to do experiment is changing of the signal cycles at Bashyam Circle. Make very short wait for the high volume traffic bound road and see the difference. Widening of road without junction improvement and chaning in the Signal Cycles will just increase the width of the waiting queue decreasing the length. There are no jams here, it is just long waiting unlike the OMR or ORR.
rs, IDS - meet them?
So, rs, IDS, since you stay around the area, why don't you meet whoever is responsible for managing traffic in the area. Start with DCP Traffic, as I all inputs would be coming from him. RWA would be trying the usual ways of talking to the corporator etc. But real impact will come from talking to those who give inputs for planning such projects.
Whether something will happen from these meetings or not, if we hear non sense in the meeting, we will all at least be criticizing a real person, and some on the record thoughts.
Bhashyam Circle Traffic Signals
With reference to what Vasanth mentioned above, I think the key may be to allow longer green durations for traffic that is along high volume routes & correspondingly reduce times for other minor road traffic that meets at the circle to reach an optimum for best traffic flow/s.
Earlier, on old airport rd, there would be huge traffic pile ups at the T-junction traffic signal (Suranjandas rd), but now, after changing cycle times & allowing west-bound through traffic to go past continuously (except when signal is green for traffic turning right from Suranjandas rd to airport rd), traffic flows have greatly improved without any road widening.
The problem remains, though, for east-bound traffic along old airport rd, which has to wait an additional phase for right turning traffic from airport rd to Suranjandas rd.
Wasted Messaging Boards
Saw the VMS board near esteem mall bellary road on the way into the city from the Airport displaying inane messages like drive safe your child is waiting, dont drink & drive etc. What a waste of money.
Not in town.
@SB, IDS
I'm not in town till July. I hope the trees survive at least till then.
Ramesh
email BBMP, log in Spandana
No problem if you are not in town, I suggest log in a complaint in Spandana, and regularly post status on the case here, like Bheema did.
Wrote Complaint
Hi
I registered 2 complaints on Spandana - I wasnt sure whom to email to in BBMP - I have emailed my earlier traffic change proposals to several people in BBMP with no reaction. Nevertheless, I did complain about the 3 trees cut on 18th Cross by the new hospital at 18th Cross and 6th Main. However - since I am not in Bangalore I'm not sure how I can find out what happened - they said they will contact me on my cell - but I am not in India and I'm not using it - so I guess I cant find out. They have no option of including an email address for updates...
Wasted messaging boards part 2
Guess what! today the same board near esteem mall on NH7 was showing traffic messages. Good move BTP.
To nitpick it was scrolling away too fast and the the messages didnt have line breaks at appropriate places. Too much text cramped into single messages. They need to break it up into single message at a time. My guess is they just forwarded the sms messages as is to the display board. Choosing the easy way generally means you are doing it for the heck of it. Need some love here BTP.
No new Malls and High Rises
The best solution to solve the Malleswaram-Seshdripuram-Sankey Tank - etc traffic choas would be to stop any new sanction for Commerical complex's or malls and high rises.........the choas currently because of these guys who don't plan themselves properly and create major traffic jam. This area is currently very self sufficient and new malls and high rises are not required.
Let the age old small shops and the markets survive and protec tthe greens here..........
Further to this, the malls such as Big bazaar and Mantri should be penalised and asked to give adequate parking, manuring of vechile facility so that they don't put the public to inconveinience.
Draft solution proposal
Feel free to comment on this. The idea is to retain the stretch as 4 lane instead of trying to force a 6 lane corridor and use the mekhri circle instead for YPR bound traffic as that is already a corridor.
This alternative is in response to this document
Sankey Road Options
Solution finds its way into a
Solution finds its way into a newspaper
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/169948/narrow-approach-widening-road.html
More sensible comments from
More sensible comments from residents in this report on the lines of what has been discussed here.
clever but stupid utterances
"I've said the stretch between Cauvery Junction to Bhashyam Circle must not be widened as it is wide enough and has many trees on either side. It's nothing but a crime if we widen that stretch and cut the trees. But we've left it to the town planning committee," said Siddaiah.
Source
2 points
1. The widening proposed & contemplated is AFTER that stretch
2. Why would you want to have 4 lanes on that unwidened stretch which in your own words is "wide enough" & 6 lanes thereafter? Stupid traffic engineering no?
strategy?
Widen other sections to 6 and then compell cutting trees and widening the rest of the stretch..when traffic grows and nuggu is in force!
This is a virtual creation of a bottle neck!
Sankey Road widening work
Sankey Road widening work will commence from next week and will be completed in 18 months, confirmed deputy mayor S Harish.
Source
Mark these words both on timelines & traffic on this road location 4 years down the line.
A few people were opposing the road-widening stating that due to the closure of CV Raman Road, the traffic volume on the Sankey Road has increased. But as per the reports, the traffic volume per day on the road is 43,645 per car unit (pcu). If the volume is above 3,367 pcu, it is considered as more than the normal volume of the traffic
The same report says count was taken at the yeswantpur bus station which is 2 kms away from bashyam circle. Traffic from mathikere, yeswantpur, mahalaxmi layout, subramanyanagar, malleswaram, rajajinagar, peenya all come there. Yeswantpur flyover is only 4 lanes, why didnt they make it 6 lane when the count was taken right at the foot of the flyover.
There was also allegation that the road widening is unscientific, but the project has been planned by the experts from the directorate of urban land transport.
Yes, but if given a choice or a different statement of work I am sure the same DULT folks will identify a better strategy for you. If you already have a work code for widening & ask for a report to justify what else will you get? How you utilize intelligence & expertise is in your hands
So now with 6 lanes along mekhri+CV raman ave & 6 lanes along this stretch there are 12 lanes of traffic going to yeswantpur from the same cauvery junction spot which is only 4 lanes wide now. Thats more lanes than a california freeway, there should not be ANY congestion now anywere when brigade gateway opens, watch this space.
Traffic Madness
In light of all this madness I came across this article in the New York Times..
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/27/science/earth/27traffic.html?_r=1&ref=global-home&gwh=1BAED437AEE5399A4B1E3C66E13BC95E
Anyway, it seems like the saga of Sankey Road is another battle lost.
Bangalore seems like a sick person who is being treated by multiple gunshot wounds being inflicted by the BBMP. The residents feverishly run to administer trauma and try to stem the bleeding and just when its coming under controll the BBMP fires again. All is lost.
Ramesh
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