New expressway to city?
The BBC is reporting that the Union Surface Transport Minister T R Baalu has cleared a new expressway to ease traffic congestion in the city. I couldn't find similar reports in the Indian media and the BBC doesn't say where in Bangalore this road is going to be built. And would someone explain how a expressway linking the city to some place else ease the horrendous traffic congestion in the central business district of the city?
New Bangalore road to beat jams
India's technology capital Bangalore is to get an $87m (£48m) toll motorway in order to tackle the city's growing congestion problem.
With the city established as India's main centre for outsourced Western businesses, jobs are now as plentiful as the traffic jams on its roads. The new road into a business zone is being partly paid for by its US and European tenants, including Siemens. They have long complained that traffic problems were harming business growth.
Boom city
India's federal minister for road transport, highways and shipping, TR Baalu, said the new 9km (5.5 mile) road, and a number of separate carriageway-widening projects, would go a long way to resolving the transport infrastructure grievances.
The new expressway will open in April 2007, Mr Baalu said, and will be 33% paid for by the business tenants. "These projects will ease congestion and support the growth of the industry," he said. Many US and European corporate giants, including Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, and Tesco, have in recent years exported operations such as software development and customer support to Bangalore, attracted by low wage costs and cheap property prices.
The city, capital of the southern state of Karnataka, now accounts for some 32% of India's $12.5bn annual revenues from overseas outsourcing. After years of rapid growth Bangalore has a population of 6.5 million and 1.95 million cars.
posted by The Bangalorean @ 9/27/2004 07:52:00 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
This only proves that flyovers are a bad idea. You are stuck with them and can't change anything about them. Just how will the Richmond circle flyover take two-way traffic? Traffic will reduce to a further crawl if they attempt anything like that. The down ramps on Residency Road and Richmond road can be turned into an up ramp and down ramp but what about the present up ramps on Mission Road and KH (Double) Road? They are aligned to be up ramps and are too narrow to accomodate two way traffic.
You are right, the down ramp (when turned into an up ramp) on Richmond Road is not aligned for vehicles to turn on to the down ramp on Residency Road. Besides why would any one want to do that. They would want to get off on KH Road. The only solution I can think of is to retain the up ramps on Mission Road and KH Road and make the Lalbagh Fort Road (stretch of road below the flyover between Richmond Circle to Olympic Sports junction) a one way leading into KH Road. However the problem with this suggestion is that the down ramp on Richmond Road will remain untilized.
Perhaps the traffic police expects us to jump off the flyover on to KH Road.
I hope they aren't thinking of making the up ramp on KH Road two-way. Nothing could be more idiotic than that. The up ramp can't even take the one-way traffic presently. Just one BMTC bus crawling up the ramp can hold up the rest of the traffic behind it for ages. Two buses simply can't pass side by side on that ramp.
What is this mobile flyover technology?
I don't think expense would be a big deterrent. The Builder-Politician lobby would only be too happy to throw more good money after bad and pocket a good bit of it in the bargain.
Its the feasibility of any structural changes to the flyover that is in question. And the additional ordeal of disruptions due to another round of construction activity.
:-)
I was hoping you would know how this thing actually works.
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