One-ways definitely not a permanent solution

One-ways definitely not a permanent solution

BY M N SREEHARI
Deccan Herald

Bangalore is acclaimed to be one of the fastest growing cities in Asia with a population of 70 lakh plus and has more than 22 lakh registered vehicles. Almost two lakh new vehicles from other states are passing through the city roads. About a lakh vehicles from other districts are plying along Bangalore roads presently. The total road length is around 5,000 km, which is not growing in proportion with vehicle growth. As such, this creates a lot of traffic congestion, delays and also many a time leads to accidents.

Most of the roads in Bangalore are narrow, end abruptly and change alignment etc; sudden bottlenecks along the roads are very common. Frequent functions are a regular phenomenon and the average speed works out to be around 20 kmph along most of the roads in Bangalore.

The immediate possible solution from the traffic management is the introduction of a one-way system. This will only solve the problem temporarily as the volume of traffic flowing along the converted one way will be double of that before conversion. Hence both the roads are equally congested. The only relief being the continuous traffic flow (uninterrupted) which may cause accidents at pedestrian crossings.

The one-way system no doubt increases the distance (detours) by more than 1.5 to two times but there could be saving in time. Considering a long distance journey between two points, there is no overall saving in fuel or distance as many times one-ways lead to confusion, more detours, and the like, with improper and inadequate sign and signages, road users get dissatisfied and ultimately resulting in violations, traffic offences, etc.

It is effective, if two roads can be made as complementary one-ways, when they are separated by not more than 500 mts and which run parallel to each other. Most of the roads in Bangalore (around Hudson Circle/K R Circle/Mysore Bank) are in the form of triangles and hence one-ways will not be a successful solution to solve the traffic problem. Further, some roads will be overloaded whereas others are under utilised.

This imbalance leads to congestion and delays leading to violation and traffic-related problems.

Museum Road, RRMR Road, Nrupatunga Road, Sankey Road are underutilised after the introduction of one-ways. Further, a driver will have to move away from his destination and get lost somewhere before reaching the destination. The improper and unscientifically converted one-ways lead to more traffic problems. This finally leads to reversal of the system.

Hence, a thorough investigation covering the pros and cons is required urgently. One such example being the reversal of the one-way along Residency and Richmond roads. Similarly, the one-ways around Basaveswara circle also require rethinking. One best solution will be to remove all the roadside parking slots to bring down the volume-capacity ratio. It is necessary to know that roads are meant for traffic and not parking. All the high-rise buildings should get approval only after showing adequate parking space, either on the ground or at the cellar.
The authorities appear to be lenient and cellars are being converted into shops and offices.

Second, vacant government land along most of the one-ways can be acquired to widen the roads and to take the increased traffic, creating exclusive bus lanes and prohibiting vehicles from moving at a speed less than 20 kmph along busy roads.
At present, more than 260 roads have been converted into one-ways, and they are functioning satisfactorily. There is no other way to handle the ever-growing traffic along relatively narrow roads of Bangalore. Though there will be initial resistance, Bangaloreans will learn to accept the system.

In spite of difficulties with the growing numbers of vehicles even one-ways will not solve the problem, as it can only be a temporary solution to a pressing need.
Hence, there is an urgent need to tackle the problem as per the revised, comprehensive development planning conducive to our environment without causing much inconvenience to public and road users.

(M N Sreehari is Chairman, TEST & Professor, Dept of Civil Engineering, MSRIT and Advisor, Govt of Karnataka on Traffic and Transportation)