Road to prosperity

Road to prosperity
Bellary Road, NH7, is now the gateway to a world of possibilities. How ready is it?
The Times of India

Bangalore: To understand the significance of National Highway 7, Bellary Road in Bangalore’s radar presently, get a hold on this. So far, every year 1.5 million vehicles ply on this road. Once the International Airport at Devanahalli gets its flying start, traffic here would go up to about 11.5 million per year.
That’s why Bellary Road is suddenly the cynosure of all eyes — the government, civic agencies, builders, developers, land buyers and sellers. This road singularly leads to Devanahalli where work on the international airport is under way. Bellary Road is now to Bangalore what Hebbal Flyover was when it kicked off.
Development at Devanahalli is the prerogative of two agencies, the Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA) and the Bangalore International Airport Planning Authority (BIAPA). Can one road take the bulk of traffic within the city, of the city as also traffic that will inevitably follow when airport opens?
A spanking new expressway that connects the airport with NH7 as also the Outer Ring Road is supposed to tackle this sharp spike in traffic.
Explains BMRDA Commissioner Sudhir Krishna, “Devanahalli comes under the Bangalore Metropolitan Region and includes urban and rural panchayats. NH7 will not be able to cope with the traffic that’s bound to be there with airport.
The Bellary Road to Devanahalli expressway starts at a point on Outer Ring Road and goes onto Challakere via Bagalur and then to international airport. All ORR traffic heading to Devanahalli will benefit by this.’’
The 25-km expressway, like other sprawling ones at Delhi-Gurgaon, is an access-controlled, toll road. The BMRDA and the Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL) are the implementing agencies for the project, though an initial survey on the project feasibility was done by RITES.
An initial estimate showed that every 1 km would cost a whopping Rs 5 crore. Which means that the 25-km stretch could easily cost upwards of Rs 125 crore. Work on this project has not begun on the ground but is slated to be completed around the same time the airport is completed, that’s around —-.
The expressway is just one of the projects aimed at connectivity with the city as well as satellite towns and to the airport. Surveys have been done for the Satellite Town Ring Road (STRR) and Intermediate Ring Road (IRR).
“The National Highways Authority of India has sought proposals from agencies. This is the initial plan for NH7. In the second phase, there will be roads and expressways beyond Devanahalli so that it will connect STRR and NH 207. Therefore, the entire area will open up for development’’ says Krishna.
In the meantime, its appeal seems to be irresistible. Even as you are miles away from Devanahalli on NH7, a prominent hoarding announces — ‘Come to Devanahalli, a safe haven for investors, property buyers, infrastructure developers, NRIs...’
A FEW HITCHES
The Yelahanka city road joining the bypass of NH has not been geometrically well planned. A big island or a rotary is needed to control the speed of the vehicles. Accidents occur at this point which can be avoided by putting up a traffic island, traffic expert M N Sreehari observed.
A temple at Byatrayanapura has not been removed though road has been widened on either sides with a temple standing bang in the middle of the road.
VEHICLE TRAFFIC
Five years ago PCUs per day From Bangalore 26,800 From KR Puram 17,800 From Tumkur 11,200
AFTER FIVE YEARS
The corridor from Mehkri circle upto Devanahalli handles 11,000 PCU per hour. The ring road traffic — Tumkur Road and KR Puram Road — is about 8,000 PCUs per hour. Estimated traffic after the completion of the NH upgradation — 18,000 PCUs per hour.
BLUEPRINT WHICH NEVER TOOK SHAPE
‘Northern Corridor of Bangalore’, as BMP had envisaged, is a project to improve the stretch from Hebbal Junction to Minsk Square with a futuristic approach for 2023.
Covering the overall development of the 7.1 km corridor starting from Minsk Square to Hebbal junction encompassing 13 junctions; parallely, the roads from KR Circle to Basaveswara Circle and from SBM Circle to Basaveswara Circle were also linked as these two stretches are linked to Hebbal road corridor.
The corridor, estimated at Rs 20 crore, was to be widened to a six lane carriageway, along with construction of parking and bus bays, remodelling of pavements, automated and synchronised traffic signals, remodelling of storm water drains, installation of ducts, construction of grade separator and pedestrian subways.
The main components of the project were widening of the Windsor Manor bridge, grade separator at Cauvery junction and four pedestrian subways at Sanjaynagar and Ganganagar markets, Palace Guttahalli circle and Sophia school.
The project involved land acquisition to a tune of 29,000 square metres. But the hitch was fully grown trees that dot the corridor. According to the project report, Minsk Square to Hebbal Junction has 764 trees of which 423 trees had to be felled.