If BBMP (Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike) is to be believed, then about 80 roads in the city will be free of digging for various purposes. As a part of the process the civic agency has marked 18 roads in three packages under Specifications for Urban Road Execution (SURE) with investment of `200 crore.
A sum of `100 crore for the project will be given from the CM's Nagrotana Grant and the Palike will source `100 crore from its account. The contractors can avail the money only after completion of the project.
BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana told City Express that this project, will be the first of its kind in the entire country. "Once the project is complete, the roads will not require any major maintenance for next 20 years as cutting and digging will not be allowed on these roads. The money that would have gone into repairs and maintenance of those roads can be better utilised for improving other major roads," the Commissioner said.
The first package includes seven roads. Commissionerate Road, Cunningham Road, Residency Road, Richmond Road, Museum Road, Vittal Mallya Hospital Road and St Marks Road. "Work on three roads has started. Cunningham Road, St Marks and Vittal Mallya Road will be completed as per the agreement between the contractor with the Palike. Within six months, work on Vittal Mallya Road will be completed as there are less obstacles," he said.
For the full report in the New Indian Express, click here.
Finally, the long awaited work has commenced. May be Prajagalu may want to keep a track of the progress here.
Muralidhar Rao
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green group's overall support
welcome change
well said..
In yesterdays ToI article it is said:
"We must recognize that any road stretch is only as good as its narrowest width. If we let lose a hundred cars in a wide part of the road, we will have a bottleneck and congestion where the road narrows to allow only 25 cars to go through, with no net gain in speed."
This is what the BBMP engineers should realize asap!
Two-part TV-9 debate
Thanks for Sharing Murali Sir..
Thanks for sharing Murali Sir... Great going on tender sure..
One more important thing for which I am sure you are going to debate... The world has taken away from Bogota is BRTS!!!! This should also be taken as part of Bogota Plan!!! I am not sure why you are not with it !!!. Probably you need a debate with Mr. Penalosa??
Penalosa OK; BRT yaake?
BRT? no roads!
I would think that bangalore does not have enough roads for a dedicated BRT..hence BPS or the Bus Priority System which has been proposed here on Praja would be the best thing for the city..ofcouse there are stretches like the ORR which still are a good candidates for BRT!
r u sure abt tendersure.
More questions raised on Tender Sure then its vaibaility
Some what Bangalore urban projects are getting into too much conterversy and these conterversy have help Bangalore suffer in Urban Infrastructure . 1. BIAL Airport 2. NICE Road 3. BMRC Bangalore METRO 4. ELevated Road to Airport Toll 5. Magic Boxes 6. BRTS 7. TTMCs 8.Signal Free and Elevated Roads al accross Bangalore. 9. SKywalks / Foot Over Bridges 10. Non starter of Suburban Rail / Commuter Rail
Every project gets in trouble
Every project gets in trouble because they dont believe in true public consultation, if one was confident everyhting was addressed why would you bypass showing your plans to people and telling them what benefits accrue to them? DOnt you do a presentation in any corporate job telling people what you are doing & why? Until we start showing & telling people will question what you are doing. Esecially things that involve public commons, expect outcry.
Yes we got wide footpath, they went and put a 1.5m cycle lane on the footpath. Have they even used a cycle? I travel at 40kmph & can cause injury to pedestrians if I ride on a footpath. what harm would have come if they had asked cyclists becore they did this? Yes they got cylindrical drain pipes, but they didnt think of soak pits & putting new trees. In summer which pedestrian is going to be standing on that sidewalk?
In fact When design was being made, srinidhi pointed out the need for trees and even suggested Honge with pictures of grates etc & I pointed out the need for 3 meter contraflow cycle lane seperate from pedestrain & traffic flow. Where are those two on st marks road? If I ask I am told you atleast got this. Is that good enough for the big money being pumped in? BTW asking 2 people not a public consultation make.
A right thing, gone about the wrong way
The problem is that we have
The problem is that we have too many self styled urban experts( including myself!!).It is an expertise easily appropriated and no body seems to really question the real credentails of these "experts" .Unfortunetely also and many of them have a "i know better" atttitude.
That's what's happend with tender sure.
Tendersure should not have been about roads or pavements , it should have been about how people live /interact .The streets are not just carriers of traffic , whichever type.
enuf said.
vmenon
can't say it hasn't made a difference
no there are many isues with
no there are many isues with tendersure, not just that pedestrain pavement width was arbitarily arrived at.and teher is no london example here, that is just hype.
And lack of consultation is just one part.
self styled planners have come up with a faulty design in many aspects.
-no -rain water harvesting
--no new Trees
--no street vendors
-faulty width of carriage ways
--unusable cycle tracks
--no look at future of bus transport requirements( 2 way bus movement)
-no look at future requrment for services(BWSSB)..when FAR increases in CBD
need i go on.
There is an umbrage being taken that pedestrian has been looked into...road design is a little bit more than that,
vmenon
How much better?
Yes we got wider footpaths but foot fall count would have actually shown wider footpath on the india garage side because of the school and shops there and narrower on the club side. The cycle track on the foot path also is filled with paver blocks, one loose paver block and its actually dangerous to cycle. The only segregation between pedestrian and cycle is the color of the paver block. I am yet to see how the junction will be handled thats where the "I-dont-know-sort-it-out-yourself-problem" comes up. Could have designed the entire CBD with bus routes also and provided bus lanes too.
Why is all this happening? Wasnt it supposed to be better than BBMP designed ones if BBMP wasnt involved? Also why arent these roads continous? Why cunningham rd after st marks road? Why not richmond & residency road? Why Jayangar now? Why not Sanjaynagar main road? What is the method to the madness?
Lack of Clarity and some vested interest of Tender Sure
Look at which roads Tender Sure has been selected itself shows its for some vested interest : Infront of Bowring Club, I am not sure presently how many foot falls of the pedestrain, Hardly I have seen pedestrains as every one comfortable thru Cars and what we can expect infront of High end club ??? Without acquiring property of Bowring Club, how can they implement all the facilities ??? This is only road which connects Hosur road to North Bangalore directly, its madness in reducing road width and increasing foot path, first they should have acquired land from Club and build good wider Foot Path without reducing road width. I am afraid the way roads are selected for Tender sure, it wil turn out to be Kaveri Junction magic box logic. To help Sadhashivanagar so called residents ( MLAs, MPs, high end business people ) magic box built at Kaveri Junction and given explanation of signal free corrdior. Same thing happening right now, why Tender sure was not applied close to METRO stations first ??? Why its not applied arround Indian Express Building - Vidhana Soudha - High Court - KR Circle - Hudson Circle - Minerava Circle or even at MG road upto Trinity Circle ???
Tender Sure would work well
Tender Sure would work well near Metro stations or even TTMCs.
No point in doing it on Arterial Roads.
It more resembles the movie - Well Done Abba
The news article on Tendure Sure resembles more like the Boman Irani's movie - "Well Done Abba", in which the loan gets distributed among the officers but without the isgn of a Well for which the loan was granted.
http://www.bangaloremirror.com/bangalore/civic/Phase-I-not-done-Phase-II-work-begins/articleshow/46101498.cms?
pedestrians' needs to the fore
what is the controversy?
Saw the discussion on News 9 regarding TenderSURE. What is the issue on St. Marks road? As I understood, it is increasing the footpath width and reducing the road size. The result would be more congestion on a very busy road. Has anyone done the pedestrian volume study that is required? If so, where is the report and who has done it? TenderSURE may end up as CongetionSURE. Let experts with background in Transportation issues handle the situation.
Tender Sure
Tender Sure is a great idea that would not be addressing a need. Footpaths are not being broadened or contructed where they are really required and hence the work presently being done, as proof of tecgnical competence (or is it showanship), on 7 roads in the CBD of Bangalore will end up as a white elephant and as a monument a wrong approach to image building under the guise of serving the public interest
The showmanship has not been
The showmanship has not been done by BBMP for ages even in non-required areas, now there is nothing preventing us from demanding this showman ship in the required areas. But we will prefer it being thrown out and revert to no showmanship in both required and non required areas.
Ella OK; BMTC monopoly yaakae?
Yes, they could be executed faster and better. There are challenges in building them—there are no maps on current underground utilities; entry / exit to premises have to be provided through the construction, existing utilities have to work while the new roads are being built; it’s a first of its kind project leading to new challenges being encountered and the incessant rains last year have not been helpful. Yes, there is scope for further technical improvements, better implementation and can happen in case the powers that be decide to extend the Tender SURE project with its core principles elsewhere in the city.
For the full text of the responses to a set FAQ's (the one most heard currently being on the slowness of the work) on TenderSure by V Ravichandar, in Citizen Matters, click here.
Undoubtedly the way to go. The hitch however is that our public transport system, centred largely around the government monopoly, BMTC, is not, and cannot ever be expected to cope up adequately with the demand. The answer lies in opening out the services to reputed private players, or at least the BMRCL (for feeder services) to begin with. For more on that, check here.
evolving outlook, may be
Making an about-turn on his stand against the width of pavements under TenderSURE, chief minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said that his government will develop at least 50 more roads under the same system. He had earlier said that pavements under TenderSURE projects are too wide and eat into the carriageway, affecting traffic.
For the full text of the report in the ToI, click here.
Perhaps the coming of age as the defacto CEO of Bengaluru (given the largely toothless status of BBMP) from being just an MLA from the rural Varuna constituency.
One however hopes that the few short-comings in the design and execution, will be addressed in the future jobs
50 more roads..
50 more roads statement seems to be more as a statement for the upcoming elections than anything else..
and your statement about short-comings is very pertinent and they need to be listed first. These then need to be taken up with JUSP/BBMP(Kabade) ppl.
For example, the cycle tracks are unusable as the way it exists on Mallya road..
hopefully, Bengaluru is past such mishaps
The Ghaziabad mayor has ordered the filing of an FIR against five contractors, after about a dozen roads were partially or totally washed away following three days of rain.
- - - "The works undertaken were so substandard that they got washed away in three days of rains. Some of these roads had been laid only a fortnight ago. I have asked the municipal commissioner to conduct an inquiry and determine the contractors who are responsible for the substandard nature of works. I have recommended lodging of FIRs against the contractors who are found guilty following the inquiry," the mayor Teluram Kamboj said.
For the full text of the report in the ToI, click here.
Hopefully, we, in Bengaluru, are going to be overcoming such problems in future through TenderSure roads all through the city.
Apparently, many other cities have expressed interest in the process too. Perhaps, Ghaziabad needs to follow suit too.
the politically incorrect question
The solution lies in diverting traffic through alternate options including development of circular roads around CBD, strengthening public transportation and even imposing congestion tax for private vehicles.
- - - Will TenderSURE achieve its objectives? This depends on planners, citizens and police!
For the full text of the "Opinion" by ADGP Praveen Sood, in the ToI, click here.
It's good to hear senior officials extend open support to TenderSure. And, quite as Mr Praveen Sood has stated, TenderSure can succeed and achieve its objectives by strengthening public transportation and even imposing congestion tax for private vehicles. But, here lies the catch - how can public transportation improve as long as bus services - the essential ingredient of public transport - remains a BMTC monopoly? - check here.
Nobody seems to want to address that, well, "politically incorrect" question. Ok - if opening out to private sector is still taboo for some (check here as to why it should be, though), what about allowing BMRCL to operate shuttle services connecting their Metro stations to respective hinterlands, as they have been asking from long.
BMTC monopoly will not only not allow TenderSure to succeed, but it could even kill it. And, not just TenderSure, the whole of the city itself.