More roads to ease congestion in B`lore

More roads to ease congestion in B`lore
BS Reporter / Chennai/ Bangalore December 25, 2007
Karnataka Governor Rameshwar Thakur has directed the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and the Greater Bangalore City Corporation (GBCC) to plan more infrastructure projects to reduce traffic congestion in the city.

Both the civic agencies have been asked to prepare a masterplan for execution of projects over the next six months. The directive came from the governor in the wake of slowdown of vehicular movement on the city roads leading to congestion every day.

The average speed of vehicles in the city during the peak hours is 10 kilometres per hour while that of non-peak hours is 20 kilometres per hour. In the last six years, the vehicular population in the city has increased from 2.5 million to 3.3 million, including 2 million two-wheelers.

The government is planning a network of road underpasses at major junctions to reduce vehicular congestion. Besides, the government is under pressure to improve the access road from the city to the new international airport coming up near Devanahalli.

The government has already begun widening of the Sankey Road from High Grounds to Hebbal lake flyover to convert it into an eight-lane road. The road has to be ready before March 28 when the new international airport begins its operations. The work is being jointly executed by the GBCC and Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd.

The GBCC has also taken up widening of 85 major arterial roads in the city. It is engaged in the construction of a four lane flyover on Mysore Road near Gali Anjaneyaswamy temple at a cost of Rs 20 crore.

Similarly, the BDA is constructing a road underpass at the Magadi Road-Chord Road junction at a cost of Rs 22.50 crore. It is also developing the 5.7 kilometre stretch of the Outer Ring Road connecting Magadi Road and Mysore Road. Two flyovers and an underpass are part of the project, which is estimated to cost Rs 92 crore. This road saves about 13 kilometres of extra journey to commuters to reach Mysore Road from Magadi Road through Kengeri Satellite Town.

A Peripheral Ring Road of about 110 kilometres has been proposed around Bangalore at a radial distance between 2.80 kilometres to 11.5 kilometres from the existing Outer Ring Road. The project involves a land acquisition of about 2,050 acres and is expected to cost Rs 550 crore. The proposed road is a 6-lane bi-directional divided carriageway having 3-lanes on each side. The government is in the process of approving the project.

“We have to execute one major infrastructure project each month. Unless we speed up the pace of work, we will not be in a position to match the growth in vehicular population,” Thakur said after inaugurating an underpass at the junction of Outer Ring Road and Banaswadi-Ramamurthynagar road on Monday.

This underpass has been constructed by the BDA at an estimated cost of Rs 14.15 crore. The BDA has proposed three more flyovers along the Outer Ring Road with a combined investment exceeding Rs 100 crore.

The project was executed by Nagarjuna Construction Company. The total width of the fly-over is 27 metres with a four-lane road.