Now BBMP wants to lay a 5.15-km-long bike lane which, it believes, jauntily pedalling commuters would use to merrily ride to work and cycle enthusiasts would find their path to recreation for which the civic body also wants to fell over 850 trees in the name of road widening around the outer perimeter of Bangalore’s historic Palace Ground.
"The BBMP has already a proposal to the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) to seek the consent of the advocate general before it moves the Supreme Court and seek the go-ahead to fell the old trees that would make way for the Rs 38-crore road-widening project."
Bike lane is welcome but not at the cost of 850 trees. BBMP surely knows that there will be opposition for this. Already the BBMP has done the damage in Mysore road by felling so many trees and now its here.
www.deccanherald.com/content/97920/palike-draws-bike-lanes-tree.html
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Where are these trees?
Bike lane is welcome but not at the cost of 850 trees.
These are trees inside the Palace grounds and within the area which has already been given up for widening. It cant be scuttled as the road is a corridor & has serious road engineering issues.
See here for the details. I will reiterate my point from that thread
The problem is not with the trees or the widening. It will be in the unprofessionalism with which BBMP will finish the implementation. It would be better if BBMP can make available plans on how they are planning to engineer that road. How many lanes are they building and how will many it will end up with on either end (BDA/Mekhri)? How will they solve cauvery jn now? Where is the bike lane going to come up? how long & how continous will it be? how will they ensure they dont lay asphalt end to end? how many trees are they going to leave back, since It is entirely possible to preserve sidewalk trees between the bike & bus lanes, which will now become the median? What ped facilities will be built?
This widening will be make or break for BBMP as it will prove they can actually solve problems and show outcomes when they destroy things. If not they can kiss road widening/TDR goodbye for good. Knowing how well they know the width of the existing roads in their jurisdiction, i can only hope they arent doing this with a paperless-back-of-the-mind plan
Tell me how many times have
Tell me how many times have the greens made a petition to convert the palace grounds to an urban forest?
Something I have always wondered. This place would make for an awesome restoration project.
Where is the bike lane going to come up? how long & how continous will it be?
Second that. While I have no problem with this being the only bicycle lane in the city (for now)...it would help if there is a clearer picture (or a blueprint) of where BBMP expects to put up bicycle lanes and connectivity between them. Otherwise the number of cyclists willing to risk all just to have a couple of kilometers of safe riding, IMO, would be make this experiment unjustifiable.
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TM
Bicycle lanes upto Hebbal
BBMP had stated that they were planning bicycle lanes between Mekhri circle & Hebbal flyover when they had been widening that stretch, but no such bicycle lanes have been provided yet. It's still not too late - they can do it since there is ample width for most part.
If they provide bicycle tracks upto Hebbal, then we could have it for longer stretches: Hebbal to Cantt stn & Hebbal to BDA Jn. This may be an opportunity to commence a 'bicycle revolution' that is overdue.
Chinese cities rely heavily on bicycle for last mile as also most European cities since motorized vehicles do not really work out cost efficiently.
If they provide bicycle
If they provide bicycle tracks upto Hebbal, then we could have it for longer stretches: Hebbal to Cantt stn & Hebbal to BDA Jn. This may be an opportunity to commence a 'bicycle revolution' that is overdue.
Agree, it should be extended to cover the city like in the map below. I have marked an alignment that connects Hebbal & Yeswantpur commuter rail stations with Byappanahalli/ORR & Silkboard Jn/ORR. If the area inside the ORR had cordon pricing for private vehicles, exempt for PT/Cycles then with Commuter train having cycle carriage, one could potentially travel to the perimeter and make it to the city by cycle.