BCC cites norms, neglects road reality

BCC cites norms, neglects road reality
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The Bangalore City Corporation (BCC) has itself to blame for the pathetic condition of roads in the City. Although the civic body follows the Indian Road Congress (IRC) norms for designing roads, it fails to understand the City’s unique rate of growth.

The BCC has ended up laying ‘under-designed’ roads in the past and it ‘promises’ to continue with its inadequate design standards. This will continue even with the proposed widening project on 85 roads and World Bank aided projects.

The result - bumpy rides, leaking sewage, potholes and perennial traffic blockades - forever, your worst nightmare.

BCC technical advisor R. Jayaprasad told this website’s newspaper that the corporation considers 7.5 percent annual growth of traffic load. This is an IRC standard, but the city’s traffic density increases by 20 percent every year, according to sources in the traffic department.

“Our design books specify the IRC code and roads are designed for 1,800 passenger car units (PCU) per hour with an allowance for growth in the next 25 years at the rate of 7.5 percent,” Jayaprasad said.

The City registers over 900 new vehicles everyday -- the vehicle population is 22 lakh and growing. This is why older roads are turning into bottlenecks.

Without addressing this design discrepancy the BCC is adopting new technologies like Benkelman Beam Defelection Test (BBDT), which only evaluates the strength of the pavement at the current design load.

“There are 137 roads being developed under World Bank funding, with an allocation of Rs 140 crore. We are following the IRC code of 7.5 percent,” Jayaprasad said.