Skywalks to make it easy for pedestrians

Skywalks to make it easy for pedestrians
Vijay Times

Bangalore: The Garden City will soon heave a sigh of relief with aesthetically-designed skywalks being installed at seven vantage points on heavy traffic roads which will be equipped with escalators for the benefit of pedestrians.

In a shift from the usual practice, it will not be the Bangalore City Corporation which will be commissioning the estimated Rs 4.20 crore project, but the advertisers who will be investing in the much-needed facility for public convenience.

The seven skywalks form the first phase of the initial plan which had provided for 27 skywalks needed to facilitate an easy cross-over of roads. The first phase, being taken up on a priority basis, is likely to cover Jayanagar 4th Block, Cunningham Road, K H Road, near Lalbagh West Gate, Residency Road, R V Road and Airport Road.

Based on the advertisers' concept, Geodesic Techniques Pvt Ltd, which specialises in design and construction services, has taken up the project after working for it in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore and the BCC. Vantage, an advertising firm, has expressed keen interest to operate all the skywalks on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis for 30 years after commissioning, which is expected to fetch them ample advertising space on the skywalks.

Talking to Vijay Times, Geodesic director Capt Prakash Rao said that the project would be in place within the next three months as it was driven by the advertiser's business interests and they would be pumping in huge amounts running into lakhs. "We will fabricate and erect them once the designs are finalised. These will be light-weight structures which can also be installed along crowded roads to cover longer stretches to ease congestion on the footpaths. Unlike other bridges, these have been designed for easy-handling so that they can be installed or dismantled and shifted, depending upon the need,” he said.