An end to traffic jams without flyovers?

An end to traffic jams without flyovers
The population of Bangalore is projected to grow exponentially bringing along with it huge traffic problems. GEORGE K KURUVILA suggests a few innovative measures to usher in smoother flow of vehicles.

Deccan Herald

“WHEN we fail to plan, we plan to fail”. Not that we intend it that way, but ultimately that is the result.

When we look around at cities in India, do we see properly planned cities? With a few exceptions, Indian cities have mushroomed at an alarming rate without much visible planning, which has resulted in seemingly organic but often chaotic city development. What will be the further consequences of this lack of “visible city planning” in most urban areas (lack of “visible city planning” includes the result of lack of implementation, even if planned for, as in the case of city codes, zoning etc.)?

Many primary and intermediate size cities in India are growing at alarming rates. In 1979, Bangalore had a population of two million; today its population is over six million. It is estimated that Bangalore’s population will be about 10 million (one crore) by 2012, and about 12 million by 2017 (i.e. double the present population). Are we planning and implementing the necessary infrastructure for this kind of future?

Unhealthy growth

Many of us fondly remember the older Bangalore. We remember it as a beautiful “garden city”. But today, the “older” city and cantonment sections seem to be bursting at their seams and spreading. Up to the late 1980s, Bangalore was a very livable “garden city”; today it is overcrowded and sometimes called a “garbage city” (However, thanks to Swaccha Bangalore, the garbage collection has improved over the last five years). Why has a “garden city” degenerated to earn this bad name within a period of 10 years (from 1988 to 1998)? Is it because of population growth? Is it because of lack of planning/implementation of basic city infrastructure? May be it is both, but aren’t the city managers/planners supposed to plan for the city's growth?

Let us make one thing clear: for Bangalore to be viewed as a modern city of international standard, the first question to be asked is: Does it have the needed basic infrastructure to provide reasonable quality of life? What are the basic infrastructure most modern international cities have which Bangalore lacks? For this, let us take a look at the “visible problems” in Bangalore (then form goals, objectives and strategies to overcome these problems).

Traffic problem

The most “visible problem” in my opinion is the chaotic traffic in our city. One of the greatest shocks I received coming back to India after many years abroad was to witness the traffic chaos on the streets (many from other international cities probably receive similar shock in witnessing our traffic). There were not even any traffic lanes on many roads. What kind of traffic discipline did this encourage?

People made up their own lanes, wherever they could squeeze in. So, when there are lanes marked on the ground, e.g. on some of Bangalore’s prestigious main streets, people are not in the habit of following them. People still make up their own lanes impervious to the marked out lanes, squeezing in wherever there is vehicle space.

One of the major challenges faced in our city’s traffic flow is the different modes of transportation we use and the infrastructure available to accommodate these e.g. scooters, motorcycles, autorickshaws, bicycles, cars, buses, trucks, and in many cases even pedestrians, all jostling for space on the same lanes. (With the continuous widening of the roads, and due to narrow, uneven, uncomfortable pedestrian sidewalks, pedestrians even at the risk of getting hurt (sometimes fatally), resort to using the roads along with vehicular traffic, instead of the sidewalk.

Our goal should be to find ways to allow for smoother orderly traffic flow on our roads. Our objectives should be to reduce this conflict between the different modes of traffic (especially the competition for road space between the smaller two and three wheel vehicles and the larger four wheel vehicles) and allow for continuous traffic through the length and breadth of the city.

Some of the proposed strategies to achieve the above goal/objectives are:

Have dedicated lanes for two and three-wheel vehicles (i.e. lighter traffic) separate from four wheel vehicles (i.e. heavier traffic). This strategy may have been tried in Chennai and supposedly in Bangalore as well, but proved difficult at intersections. However, in my opinion, this was due to faulty design at the intersections. Did Thomas Edison give up on a good idea (the light bulb), just because he failed more than a thousand times? No, he found yet another way to make it work, and today we are reaping the benefits of his persistence. In my opinion, the best way to bring some order to the chaotic traffic flow is by providing dedicated lanes for three and four-wheelers (thus providing more order and safety). As in other international cities, hopefully our city authorities will accept the objective of providing more discipline to our traffic; then alternative designs for this strategy can be pursued.

Synchronised Traffic Lights System (STLS): The world over, STLS has proved to be a very efficient system for traffic management. In congested inner cities and Central Business Districts (CBD) where traffic intersections are too frequent (close to each other), synchronisation of traffic lights is especially helpful, for it allows for continuous traffic flow through many repetitive intersections (unlike a mini-flyover which allows for continuous traffic flow through only one or two intersections. In fact, flyovers are best avoided in the inner city and the CBD, as they are not only inefficient as explained, but also further congest already congested city areas with further structures). In US cities, I have travelled through many inner city blocks including the CBD without stopping, simply through STLS. For this to be a reality in Bangalore, we must provide effective macro scale planning.

Provide continuous one-way traffic flow through the length and width of the city (i.e. with macro scale planning, not in small areas as is being presently implemented). Together with STLS, this can provide North- South and East-West corridors (without use of inefficient “mini flyovers” at traffic intersections, as discussed above).

In this article, I have covered Bangalore’s traffic challenges (which is of utmost concern to us as citizens), with proposed strategies to overcome the problems. In future articles, I hope to discuss other basic infrastructure which Bangalore needs to develop in order to keep pace with its amazing growth, hopefully providing quality life to its citizens thereby maturing into a modern metropolitan city.


The author is a qualified architect and town planner. E-mail: gkk_townplanning@yahoo.com