City to have aesthetic skywalks by May

City to have aesthetic skywalks by May
Business Standard
Bangalore will soon have modern and aesthetic pedestrian bridges, popularly referred as skywalks, at seven busy junctions.

All these skywalks are expected to be in place by May this year at Airport Road, RV Road, Residency Road, K H Road, Cunningham Road, Jayanagar 4th Block Bus Stand and another one at Jayanagar Vijaya College Road.

The entire project, worth Rs 4.2 crore, has been cleared by BCC and will be executed by Bangalore-based Geodesic Techniques, which focusses on providing solutions for urban transportation problems.

Said Srinidhi Anatharaman, MD, Geodesic: “We are executing these projects in association with the Indian Institute of Science who have helped us design these skywalks. These are light weight structures and can also be built along crowded roads over longer distances to ease congestion on the footpaths. We are also mulling putting in place escalators to attract pedestrians onto the skywalks.”

The company, in addition to the project, is also proposing an alternate lightweight elevated freeway from Madivala junction to Electronic City.

An elevated freeway is an additional road built about 5-10 metres above an existing road, with few exits and entries, intended for high-speed point-to-point traffic. Lightweight composite structures for elevated roads can be built in shorter time spans and at lower costs than conventional flyovers and are sleeker in an urban setting.

Said Anatharaman: “We are proposing this elevated freeway in place of the proposed conventional highway bridge technology using heavy pre-cast concrete. By using this new technology, we can avoid transportation of large and heavy components which tends to damage the roads and paralyse traffic during construction.”

For these projects, Geodesic for these projects has tied up with international companies such as PJSI Consultants of Malaysia and Schlaich Bergermann of Germany.

“Bangalore is unable to cope with its own success. Smooth traffic flow and efficient commuting through public transport are vital to sustain the city’s expansion. The unprecedented economic boom has overtaken the entire infrastructure implemented by the city planners. With our partnerships and recent advancements in monorail technology, elevated freeways and pedestrian skywalks, we can however ensure efficient commuting and smooth traffic flow,” noted Anantharaman.