Some footpaths to be 6-m wide

Some footpaths to be 6-m wide
The Times ofIndia

Bangalore: Some Bangalore roads will have pavements as wide as 6.5 metres! Will also boast of long-lasting carriageways to carry high-density traffic. These will be part of the 19 roads that will be taken up on priority soon.

The Karnataka Land Army Corporation (KLAC), which has completed drawing up the estimates for pavements on 11 roads, has suggested remodelling of pavements as per high standards. Apart from the usual 2-mtr pavement, the prioritised roads will have pavements as wide as 6 to 6.5 mtrs with covered shoulder drains, ducting channels; they will be done up with either interlocking blocks or ready mix concrete slabs, joint director of KLAC S V Venkatesh Murthy told The Times of India.

Once the administrative sanction is accorded by BCC, the KLAC will take up work on priority roads that include Airport Road, JB Nagar Road, Indiranagar 12th Main, Brigade Road junction to Trinity Circle junction, Ulsoor Road and Koramangala 20th Main road. Work is expected to begin within a week. In all, 19 roads coming under three main corridors — Hosur Road-Sarjapur Road-Koramangala-Madivala corridor (6 roads); Airport Road-Indiranagar corridor (5 roads) and Central Business District (8 roads) will be taken up for redevelopment.

According to sources, the total project cost will cross Rs 20 crore as it has to meet certain standards including pavements with ducting, shoulder drains, bus bays with lane marking and pedestrian crossings.

The cost of the project will be on a little higher side as the pavement component will account for not less than Rs 60 lakh per km. Under normal circumstances, a 2-mtr-wide pavement will cost Rs 23 lakh per km and a 6-mtr pavement Rs 60 lakh, sources explained. Hence, 1 km of road upgradation would touch Rs 1 crore.

The work will be handled by the KLAC because it gets certain exemptions from the Transparency Act.