Remember the Inner Core Ring Road (ICRR) project? Find some documents here in case you need to jog your memory. BBMP and newspapers haven't talked much about it lately, and then The Hindu carried this piece (steel structures favoured for ring road) a few days ago.
There was one thing that struck me as odd in that news peice. Chief Engineer (Infrastructure) of the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike is advocating use of steel structures to build the expressway and is also dreaming up a 3 level road:
"it could have three levels for vehicles to travel — the existing ground level, one for two-wheelers and another for four-wheelers, he said."
But then, two execution models are suggested:
"The project could be proposed under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission or be given out to private companies on a Build Own Operate Transfer basis."
BBMP's engineers are clearly thinking design, that probably tells us we shouldn't assume that ICRR will be developed on a BOOT basis. Is BBMP thinking of doing the project itself?
Please. No! BBMP, you have zero experience building and managing such roads. Don't think of doing it yourself.
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crazy idea!
Elevated Core Inner Ring Road - going going...gone?
Read this in bangalorebuzz.blogspot.com
"EXPRESS EXIT
The much tom-tommed Inner Core Ring Road and elevated expressways, which were supposed to remove gridlocks and save travel time by 50 per cent, have been shelved as the BBMP develops cold feet over imposing a users’ toll to recover costs
MANASI PARESH KUMAR "
Tunnel Road gone. Elevated Core Inner Ring Road gone. Next to go will be those elevated roads that were to come up from Silkboard to Hebbal and from KR Puram to Yeshwantpur.
Big 10 plan will make a complete mess of the CBD or what is left of it once BMRCL finishes it off.
Srivathsa
Drive safe. It is not just the car maker which can recall its product.
Good Riddance
I never agreed with the idea of CRR from the start. No other city that I know of has experimented with such a bizzare idea (except for some american ones that are being condemned by the whole world now).
If you provide such exclusive elevated routes in the middle of the city, why invest in a Metro or other mass transit ? It's like paying for the same real estate twice with an invitation to cars to further wreck our city, not to mention the strangulation of the environment further.
Once an exclusive, faster PT system has been made available, where is the need for another exclusive road system ? The trucks & the cars & the through travellers can use the ORR or the PRR instead of a CRR, for sure. If it adds time to their travel, well, it's the same in all other cities too, is'nt it ? So, why show so much concern about it here in Bangalore ?
Look at what is happening in Bangkok & compare it with Singapore. If we put up a CRR, the Metro & the buses will be starved of that many users.
This is good riddance in my opinion & I hope that talk about elevated roads, tunnels & the club-pyramid project (roads over drains) in the city centers ends here & never sees a rebirth.
Need a "road-space usage efficiency" drive
Just like B-TRAC, or as part of it, we need an year long drive/project to increase road-space usage efficiency. Things like consistent road width, extra width at "mouths" or intersections, evenly shaped pavements, parking enforcement, byelaw enforcement along road ribbon, better footpath to keep pedestrians off the roads (roads are smoother to walk on) - things like these.
I would guess that available road space in the city could go up by 30% via such a drive. Very little hard costs to this project, there would only be some noise and politics to deal with.
As Ashwin Mahesh, and Dasrathi sir say - no elevating or widening roads till we get our road space usage factor up to 90-95%.
Absolutely SB
SB,
Bang on. Far too much of our roads is unusable. How many roads do we see where the left lane is completely free of obstacles. Road users should feel confident that they can drive on the left lane without nasty surprises popping up.
This can start on big 10 for starters before elevating and digging.
Srivathsa
Drive safe. It is not just the car maker which can recall its product.
Good Idea - I Agree Too
SB - Much called for. "Widening" roads here means eating up footpaths, uprooting trees & allowing free parking on the sides by adopting Laisse Faire & being by-standers, encouraging the chaos on the "widened" roads, instead of being regulators.
I think they should embark on a project to make a study & find out how best to manage the available street space that we already have, instead of claimimg before hand that they are insufficient & complain about encroachment by hawkers & the like.
We could also assist with such an initiative as we have representatives from several areas now, I guess !
Very sensible idea, how about something more radical?
This is absolutely essential and a common sense idea SB. Good footpath, regulated parking, clear left lane, well designed intersections, removal of bottlenecks - all of these are absolutely required.
Another improtant need is better traffic and lane discipline. In many places, road is improperly used because of arbitrary U-Turn locations, poor driving practices leading to clogged bottlenecks etc. I must say that the traffic cops are getting more active nowadays, in my experience.
A third, more radical, politically difficult idea will be some serious redevelopment of areas abutting major arterial roads - especially away from the center of the city. A good example for me is Marathalli. It lies smack right on Airport road at a fairly busy intersection. Granted that the intersection probably came after this particular former Halli. But what you now have is a dense and horrendously crowded area, with narrow lanes, heavy traffic and busy commercial activity impeding traffic flow on a major road.
There is no solution to improving built up areas like this without a plan for extensive redevelopment, i.e., relocate some folks with appropriate compensation, demolish some structures, widen interior roads. With commerical activity sitting barely inches off of major arteries located 15-20 km away from the city center - no matter how wide the road, it is only going to get taken up by parking and pedestrians and hawkers with no safety or comfort for pedestrians and poor driving conditions for vehicular traffic.
The other option is to fly over it, but where do you plant the pillars?
how to drive the "road-space usage efficiency" drive
BMLTA arguably is the best bet for resources who can talk with authority on what is right and the way to approach it..
BTRAC is good at advertising(still wondering why all sign boards need BTRAC written below it)..besides they do some implementations too..
Is there a way to work with these agencies and get results?