Over City's slow tracks

Over City's slow tracks
Nina C George & Madhumita B
Flyovers are considered symbols of a citys growth and status. They are fast tracks meant to ease traffic, but that purpose may have been defeated in Bangalore.

Every year, Bangalore’s powers-that-be line up new measures to counter the problem of providing more space on the roads. Flyovers seemed like a viable option. But over 10 flyovers have come up and there seems to be no relief from chaos on the streets.
Flyovers are considered symbols of a city’s growth and status. They are fast tracks meant to ease traffic, but that purpose may have been defeated in the City.
Vendors, debris below flyovers, animal drawn carts, traffic violations on and near flyovers and traffic jams are a common sight at most flyovers in the City.
Metrolife did a reality check on some of the City’s major flyovers and found that the problems, are in fact, far from being solved.
In a two-part series, we bring you the status of some of these flyovers with technical facts and citizens’ opinion on flyovers constructed by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA).

HEBBAL GRADE SEPARATOR
Length of flyover: Main flyover (Bangalore-Hyderabad): Left and right carriage way: 855 m each.
Loop 1 (Bangalore-Tumkur): 475 m.
Loop 2 (K R Puram-Bangalore): 473 m
Loop 3 (Tumkur-Bangalore): 453 m
Loop 4 (Hyderabad-K R Puram): 837 m
Loop 5 (Bangalore-K R Puram): 520 m
Agency: M/s Gammon (India) Ltd
Estimated Cost: Rs 52.75 crore
Contract amount as per tender: Rs 48.74 crore
Total cost: Rs 6623 lakhs
Date of commencement of work: 9 October 2001
Target date of completion: 15 August 2003
Actual completion: 30 October 2003
Traffic composition at the junction: 87,558 PCU or Passenger Car Units (the entire flyover including loops).
Citizen’s voice
Afzal Sayeed, mechanic: This flyover has surely helped reduce traffic jams at this junction.
The only most serious issue that the authorities have failed to deal with is pedestrain crossing.
Getting across to the other side near residential and commercial areas is near impossible because of the continous flow of speeding vehicles.
A pedestrian skywalk is a must here. There is a perpetual jam near the Baptist Hospital junction as vehicles have to drive up to there to turn around to get to the other side.”
Siddalingaiah, truck driver: “While two-wheelers and cars need to go up to a kilometre to turn around and get to the other side of the road, trucks are forced to go up to Gangenahalli and turn.
The flyover may have eased the movement of vehicles on top of it, but has failed to make provisions for pedestrians and vehicles below the flyover.”

ANAND RAO CIRCLE
Length of main flyover: 647 mtrs; Loop towards Race Course Road: 158 mtrs
Agency: M/s. Simplex Concrete Piles (I) Limited and M/s. Stup Consultants (P) Ltd
Estimated cost: Rs 2400 lakhs
Contract amount as per tender: Rs 2760 lakhs
Total cost of the project: Rs 3000 lakhs
Date of commencement of work: 15 July, 2004
Target date of completion: 14 November, 2005
Actual completion: 8, November, 2006
Traffic composition at the junction: 9600 to 16358 pcu/hour
Citizen’s voice
Office-goer Nagaraju, who commutes on this stretch everyday: “Even when this flyover was planned, people voiced their concerns over its utility.
The Seshadri Road below is a wide stretch and didn’t need a flyover.
Again, the length of the flyover is short. It should have gone up to SJ Polytechnic at KR Circle and branched out into Nrupathunga Road on one side and towards Vidhana Soudha on the other. Interestingly, the flyover serves more as a platform for passing vehicles to watch the races at the Turf Club.
As a result of all these, traffic jams are a daily occurrence.”

GRADE SEPARATOR AT BANGALORE DAIRY CIRCLE
Length of flyover: 534.82 m
Agency: M/s UP State Bridge Corpn. Ltd
Estimated cost: Rs 19.50 crore
Contract amount as per tender: Rs 17.30 crore
Total cost of the project: Rs 23 Crores
Date of commencement of work: 10 February, 2003
Target date of completion: 30 April,’04
Actual completion: 25 November, 2004
Traffic composition at the junction: Not provided
Citizen’s voice
Shalini, a BPO employee: “Clogged roads are a common sight at this junction. Sometimes the situation is so bad that traffic comes to a complete standstill on the flyover and the underpass for very long and the stretch that should actually take me a little over five minutes to cover will take as long as an hour. I think they should have longer flyovers that can facilitate commuting to multiple directions and not like the Dairy Circle flyover. Flyovers such as this only provide more room for traffic congestions.”

CENTRAL SILKBOARD FLYOVER
Length of flyover: 530 m
Agency: M/s East Coast Construction India Ltd.
Estimated cost: Rs 25 Crore
Contract amount as per tender: Rs 17.64 Crores
Total cost of the project: Rs 22.30 Crores
Date of commencement of work: 16 August 2002
Target date of completion: 15 August 2003
Actual completion: 30 October 2003
Traffic composition at the junction: 1,23,433 PCU
Citizen’s voice
B K Reddy, senior citizen from HSR layout: “The flyover is a total waste of money. Heavy vehicles ply on the flyover and that too at a slow pace, which hinders movement of other vehicles. It’s more of a skywalk. There should be designated lanes for different vehicles and authorities should take pointers from other cities instead of constructing flyovers as short in length as this one. The road below the flyover is chaotic during peak hours. Heavy transport vehicles are allowed from 11 am and getting past a traffic signal takes 30 minutes. The free left to Outer Ring Road from Madiwala is perpectually blocked during peak hours. After this hurdle, one sees a line of BPO company taxis that stop to pick up passengers at bus stops. We need better planning and stringent traffic rules to be able to decongest traffic and not mere flyovers.”

GRADE SEPARATOR & UNDERPASS AT JAYADEVA INSTITUTE OF CARDIOLOGY
Length of flyover: 730.437m; Length of underpass: 330.29m
Agency: M/s UP State Bridge Corporation
Estimated cost: Rs 1756.59 lakhs
Contract amount as per tender: Rs 20,98,72,000
Total cost of the project: Rs 22,40,45,124
Date of commencement of work: 1st week of February 2003
Target date of completion: 30 April 2004
Actual completion: 31 July 2006
Traffic composition at the junction: 10820 pcu/hour
Citizen’s voice
Dr C N Manjunath, Director, Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology: “Every flyover must have an underpass that will take care of traffic above and below. This flyover may have eased the situation for those coming from JP Nagar towards the hospital but for people travelling from and towards Silk Board, it is the same problem. It has only shifted traffic congestion from one part of the junction to another. I think an underpass is a viable option as the space below the flyover can be used. It’s also more cost effective and eco-friendly in the sense that there is no need to cut down existing trees.”

AIRPORT ROAD & IRR JUNCTION
Total length of main flyover (Koramangala to Indiranagar and vice versa): 435 mtrs
Loop 1: (Airport Road to Indiranagar): 300
Loop 2: (Koramangala to Airport Road): 152
Loop 3: (M.G. Road to Koramangala): 190
Loop 4: (Indiranagar to M.G. Road): 369
Agency: M/s. UP State Bridge Corporation
Estimated cost: Rs 2650 lakhs
Contract amount as per tender: Rs 2669.43 lakhs
Total cost of the project: Rs 36.20 crore
Date of commencement of work: 1 February 2003
Target date of completion: 30 April 2004
Actual completion: Main Flyover — 30 June 2006; Loops & Appurtenant Works — 31 May 2007
Traffic composition at the junction: 4423 PCU and 2177 PCU during peak hours
Citizen’s voice
Sridhar B, Investment Analyst at a Knowledge Processing Outsource (KPO) on Indiranagar: “This flyover hasn’t done much good for the traffic that finally gathers on Airport Road as the condition continues to remain just as bad. The flyover itself, with several loops, is a bundle of confusion with no proper sign boards for commuters to follow. If you miss a turn, getting back to where you started from is a tedious affair. Some of the loops aren’t even being used because you don’t know where you’re heading. Discovery of route is by trial and error here. The basic problem is that the government takes into consideration the degree of the problem at its present situation but by the time the solution arrives the problem itself is grown several folds.”