'Trees need not be felled for flyovers'

A model of the flyover designed by Dhyan Vedanth

Article and Photo courtesy: The Hindu

Can tall trees and taller flyovers co-exist? It is possible according to Dhyan Vedanth, founder-president of Tangible Tradition Trust, which works for preserving Bangalore's ethos and environment.

"As a product designer who has to regularly interact with civil engineers, I feel flyovers can be built on supporting pillars on the sides, instead of single pillars in the middle. It is possible for such lighter flyovers for lighter vehicle's to be built above existing roads like those leading to the commercial areas," Mr. Vedanth said here on Friday.

Technical details
According to the scale model he has designed the flyover, ac¬tually a second-tier road, will be almost suspended from the pillars like a carpet. Fit would be ideal for roads which have to be made one-way and can segregate traffic, he says. He has sought the help of engineering students to work out the technical details since' the concept has not really been tried out.

Tree trimming
"What prompted me to come up with this design was the way trees were being cut down everywhere to make room for flyovers. It is possible to build them without sacrificing the trees on the roadsides. They can be trimmed or even mechanically realigned to grow away from the flyover," he explained.

The advantages far outweigh any shortcomings, he says. Trees need not be sacrificed, vehicular pollution can be con¬tained and while construction is on; the older roads need not be, entirely closed to traffic as is now happening all around Bangalore. "The Seshadri Road flyover could be redesigned to preserve the trees there and a fast exit from Brigade Road all the way to Electronic City can be built this way without blocking any lane on the highway to Hosur for construction work," he says. .

Whether the construction cost is more of less compared to other designs and how to give space for underground cables and pipelines on the roadside are details, that have to be worked out, he says.