Road network doesn’t permit lanes

Road network doesn’t permit lanes
Prashanth G N | TNN

Bangalore: If dedicated lane systems are an indication of a progressive global city, Bangalore won’t make the cut. Urban policy and traffic management experts are of the consensus that dedicated lanes for buses or autorickshaws would work only on six-lane carriageways within and outside the city. And Bangalore doesn’t have more than five sixlane carriageways in about 741 sq km, which means dedicated lanes would work on only five roads in the entire city!
The average lane width in the interiors of the city being two, giving out exclusive space for any category of vehicle is physically not possible. The high number of vehicles to be accommodated makes this difficult. The number of intersections and turnings on these lanes are also so many that vehicles on the dedicated lanes have to be stopped to make way for other vehicles moving over to the right or left. “Any dedicated lane should have at least a length of 2 km to be workable. There are very few roads of this length within the city. I can only think of Cubbon Road, maybe at best Chord Road and Ring Road which too are on the outer side. And all oneways in the city are not six lanes,” says traffic expert M N Sreehari.
The traffic police too have mulled over this issue. The dedicated auto lane was introduced to segregate slow-moving vehicles from faster ones. It was believed that if autos had a separate lane, other vehicles would speed up. “But our study found that autos themselves were put to inconvenience. There was too much criss-crossing owing to too many junctions. So, we decided that we would retain the dedicated lane system on only broad roads and withdraw it on others. The overall assessment is that Bangalore requires broader roads for the separate lane system to work,” Additional Commissioner (Traffic) K C Ramamurthy said.
According to Samuel Paul of Public Affairs Centre (PAC), for dedicated lanes to work, a road must have multiple lanes. “How many such roads do we have? Moreover, everyone is not going straight. People turn to the left and right. Don’t we need to man the dedicated lanes then? If the length of the lane is less than 2 km, it won’t be feasible.”
Also, there needs to be strict enforcement which is lacking in Bangalore. “Even if we do have a lane system, enforcing discipline is a mammoth task. The world over, penalties are severe for lane intrusion. Shouldn’t we be severe here too? What other ways do we have to ensure people respect lanes? Lane system is certainly welcome, but only with serious penalties for violation,” explained Paul.
Professor Sitaram of IISc’s civil engineering department explains that Bangalore’s road network and topography is not amenable to dedicated lanes. “The roads are short, narrow and have too many turns. If they were broad like in New York, it could work.”
DEDICATED PATHS
What they require
Minimum of six lanes on a road Minimum of 2-km road length with no intersections Severe penalties to preempt lane intrusion Personnel to man dedicated lane junctions
Where they may work
Cubbon Road, Chord Road, Outer Ring Road, Road next to Kanteerava Stadium (Up to Vittal Mallya road junction), stretches of Residency and K G Road
Bangalore’s road network
Arterial and sub-arterial network
— 450 km
Roads (inclusive of bylanes)
— 3,500 km

Road network doesn’t permit lanes
Prashanth G N | TNN

Bangalore: If dedicated lane systems are an indication of a progressive global city, Bangalore won’t make the cut. Urban policy and traffic management experts are of the consensus that dedicated lanes for buses or autorickshaws would work only on six-lane carriageways within and outside the city. And Bangalore doesn’t have more than five sixlane carriageways in about 741 sq km, which means dedicated lanes would work on only five roads in the entire city!
The average lane width in the interiors of the city being two, giving out exclusive space for any category of vehicle is physically not possible. The high number of vehicles to be accommodated makes this difficult. The number of intersections and turnings on these lanes are also so many that vehicles on the dedicated lanes have to be stopped to make way for other vehicles moving over to the right or left. “Any dedicated lane should have at least a length of 2 km to be workable. There are very few roads of this length within the city. I can only think of Cubbon Road, maybe at best Chord Road and Ring Road which too are on the outer side. And all oneways in the city are not six lanes,” says traffic expert M N Sreehari.
The traffic police too have mulled over this issue. The dedicated auto lane was introduced to segregate slow-moving vehicles from faster ones. It was believed that if autos had a separate lane, other vehicles would speed up. “But our study found that autos themselves were put to inconvenience. There was too much criss-crossing owing to too many junctions. So, we decided that we would retain the dedicated lane system on only broad roads and withdraw it on others. The overall assessment is that Bangalore requires broader roads for the separate lane system to work,” Additional Commissioner (Traffic) K C Ramamurthy said.
According to Samuel Paul of Public Affairs Centre (PAC), for dedicated lanes to work, a road must have multiple lanes. “How many such roads do we have? Moreover, everyone is not going straight. People turn to the left and right. Don’t we need to man the dedicated lanes then? If the length of the lane is less than 2 km, it won’t be feasible.”
Also, there needs to be strict enforcement which is lacking in Bangalore. “Even if we do have a lane system, enforcing discipline is a mammoth task. The world over, penalties are severe for lane intrusion. Shouldn’t we be severe here too? What other ways do we have to ensure people respect lanes? Lane system is certainly welcome, but only with serious penalties for violation,” explained Paul.
Professor Sitaram of IISc’s civil engineering department explains that Bangalore’s road network and topography is not amenable to dedicated lanes. “The roads are short, narrow and have too many turns. If they were broad like in New York, it could work.”
DEDICATED PATHS
What they require
Minimum of six lanes on a road Minimum of 2-km road length with no intersections Severe penalties to preempt lane intrusion Personnel to man dedicated lane junctions
Where they may work
Cubbon Road, Chord Road, Outer Ring Road, Road next to Kanteerava Stadium (Up to Vittal Mallya road junction), stretches of Residency and K G Road
Bangalore’s road network
Arterial and sub-arterial network
— 450 km
Roads (inclusive of bylanes)
— 3,500 km