CONNECTIVITY hurdles

CONNECTIVITY hurdles



The clock is ticking. The Bengaluru International Airport will take off by this month-end. The big C — Connectivity — is worrying everyone. How prepared are the civic stakeholders? S Kushala and Chandrashekar G take a close look at the civic works


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By the month-end, when aircraft start flying in and out of the new Bengaluru International Airport, an estimated 2.5 lakh Passenger Car Units (PCUs) per day will hit the NH-7 leading to the airport. The traffic will majorly comprise cars and buses ferrying passengers to the airport along with trucks.
What every Bangalorean wants to know is: “How prepared are the civic stakeholders? Is the necessary infrastructure ready to take such a massive traffic load?’’
The answer is yes and no. The BBMP, PWD, NHAI and BMTC are putting several projects together to script a silk route to the BIA, but what is ready on hand is — BMTC’s 140 exclusive bus service to BIA and PWD’s six roads.
The BBMP had vowed to complete all the nine magic box (pre-cast elements) underpasses by March-end to facilitate smooth access to the international Airport. By mid-May, however, the BBMP has been able to complete only the Cauvery junction underpass.
Despite postponement of BIA’s inauguration, BBMP has failed miserably to utilize the opportunity and complete the underpasses. Smooth, signalfree connectivity from the heart of the city to BIA has remained a distant dream.
The underpasses were proposed at High Grounds, Basaveshwara Circle, Cunningham junction (near Windsor Manor), BDA junction, Cauvery, CBI, Anandnagar, Sanjaynagar and Hebbal junctions. Work on some of the underpasses haven’t even commenced, though.
The BBMP has promised completion of four underpasses — including the already completed Cauvery underpass — by May-end. The other three underpasses are at the Cunningham Road, BDA and Anandnagar junctions.
A reality check by TOI on the progress of the work revealed that the pace leaves a lot to be desired.
At Cunningham junction, BBMP is hopeful of completing this underpass in the next 15 days. Twenty-five elements have been launched to enable signal-free movement for vehicles on Bellary Road and for vehicles coming from Cunningham junction. Only two-wheelers and light vehicles are allowed through the underpass, said contractor Ganesh.
As for BDA junction, BBMP engineers are promising to complete it by May 20. The scheduled deadline was April 30. Provision has been made for a pedestrian underpass as well. “A four-lane road (two lanes on either side) will be made available for vehicles plying on Bellary Road. Work on crash barriers and road works are being carried out,’’ said an engineer at the spot. At Anandnagar junction, work has been completed and the underpass is ready. Only cosmetic works like painting, erecting railings and asphalting are pending. Vehicles from Anandnagar and surrounding areas can pass through the underpass without criss-crossing Bellary Road.
Work on service roads from Sanjaynagar to Hebbal has been going on in full swing. Once the service roads are ready, it will help BBMP to complete the Sanjaynagar underpass quickly and allow traffic without any hindrance, he said.
On one hand, the BMTC has already lined up its 140 buses exclusively for the BIA shuttle service, of which 40 buses are Vayu Vajras (Volvo-airconditioned) and the rest are Suvarna (peak hour service). On the other, the dedicated buslane concept is still on the drawing board. The Vaayu Vajaras are the 30-seater, air-conditioned buses that come with room for accompanied luggage and collapsible ramps for wheelchair-borne commuters. These buses will operate on nine routes to the BIA.
“Initially, we will try to experiment with a bus lane on the extreme left of the road on either side. One lane, 3 mtrs, will be used for bus service and if the model clicks, then we can make it a permanent feature on the road. Having an exclusive airport bus service without a lane does not solve the problem,’’ said traffic expert and BMTC adviser M N Sreehari.
The NHAI had taken up widening work of National Highway 7 from Hebbal to Devanahalli. The road was widened to 60 metres with three lanes on each side with central median and service roads. Alongside, the PWD has readied six roads running up to 105 km which will connect BIA from various corners of the city.

STATUS REPORT

Still on paper,
proposal-approval stages
A Rs 400-crore comprehensive NH-7 development project. It comprises development of a 7-mtr wide service road on either side of Bellary Road starting from Hebbal to airport to stop the local traffic entering the highway. Currently, a 5-mtr wide service road exists in a few places and cris-crossing happens as the highway is not closed on either sides. Construction of a continuous ramp to tackle the swelling traffic — a 4-km elevated road from Hebbal (ahead of the existing clover loop flyover at Hebbal) to Yelahanka; along with two more flyovers.

Status:

Blue-print is ready, proposal has been submitted to the Union government and approval is awaited.
The proposed 22-km accesscontrolled expressway connecting outer ring road to Devanahalli. Project handed over to the NHAI which has commissioned a viability report.

ROADS READY

Six roads to BIA from the city outskirts readied by the PWD
Tumkur Road — 25-km road via Jyothipura, Mandoor, Budigere to reach the airport.
Residents of Bangalore North can travel on Bangalore-Nandi Road, the 33-km stretch starting from Thanisandra via Bagalur and Mylanahalli to reach BIA. This state highway 104 has been strengthened at a cost of Rs 38.47 crore.
Commuters from Yelahanka wanting to avoid the NH-7 stretch, can take the major district road — from Yelahanka to Hindupur Road, via Aradeshanahalli, Jalige, Kameahalli, Uganawadi to reach the highway at BIA. This 35.95 km road has been developed at a cost of Rs 33.85 crore.
In the east, NH 207 connects Hoskote-Soolibele-BIA.
Another road is via Doddajala - the Rs 14.51 crore, 7.27 km stretch via Mylanahalli, Doddajala to BIA.
The 4.65 km road via Bhuvanahalli, Doddasanne and Anneshwara village will take you to the airport.

CLICK-START NOW

Travelling from outside Bangalore to BIA
and want to know the quick route to the
airport? Then click on this.
The PWD has launched a Java-based webenabled service — BIAL routing application — which gives details about the routes to the international airport — click on http://203.145.176.253/newbial/default.aspx
Once you enter the site, you will get routing panel which contains 10 zones — Kanakapura, Mysore-Mandya, Hassan, Western AP, Central AP, Tumkur, Kolar-Chennai, Whitefield, Electronics City and Hosur-Tamil Nadu. If you are travelling from any of these zones, click on it and you will get options — about 20 corridors have been listed with distance and route-map which can be printed.
For instance, if you are travelling from Electronic City to BIA, there are two corridors — BIAL 17 and BIAL 18. Under BIAL 17, the route is Electronics City-Chandapura-Sarjapur-Whitefield-Pharam-Kadagodi-Budigere Cross-Budigere-BIA and the distance is 60 km.
“The idea is to make our routes known to people who are travelling from outside the city and also other places. This web service will give clear idea about the routes that they can opt without taking other circuitous routes,’’ explained PWD chief engineer, south, Lakshman Rao Peshve.

BMTC ROUTES TO BIA

Airport Route 1 Hebbal to BIA: 45 minutes with 2 stops; 16 buses with 10-minute frequency. Fare Rs 80. Route 2 Mysore Road bus station to BIA; 1 hour 50 minutes with 5 stops; 18 buses with 15-minute frequency. Fare Rs 135. Route 3 JB Nagar to BIA: one hour 50 minutes with 8 stops; 18 buses with 15-minute duration; fares range from Rs 80 to Rs 135. Route 4 HAL airport to BIA: 45 km distance, two hours with 10 stops; 18 buses with 15-minute frequency; fare Rs 80 to Rs 135. Route 5 JP Nagar 6th phase to BIA: 47 km, two hours with 11 stops; 20 buses at 15-minute frequency; fare Rs 80 to Rs 140. Route 6 Whitefield post office to BIA: 50 km, two hours with 6 stops; 20 buses with 10-minute frequency; fare Rs 80 to Rs 150. Route 7 Koramangala to BIA: 51 km, two hours ten minutes with 15 stops; 20 buses with 15-minute frequency; fare Rs 80 to Rs 150. Route 8 Electronic City to BIA: 66 km, two hours 45 minutes with 10 stops; 26 buses at 15-minute duration; Rs 80 to Rs 200. Route 9 Kempegowda bus station to BIA: 35.8 km, one hour 15 minute drive with 5 stops; 16 buses at 15-minute frequency; Rs 80 to Rs 120.

Traffic on NH-7

Bellary Road registers 18,000 passenger car units (PCU) per hour. As per the studies conducted by BIAL, nearly 11.5 million passengers will take the aerial route annually. This means 25,000 PCUs per hour on the highway when the new airport is commissioned.

PLANE-SPEAK


It’s curtains for the HAL airport, as of now. Four eminent citizens are disappointed by the government’s decision. In their own words...



“We the industry are shocked at the government’s decision in closing down HAL. It is absolutely unacceptable. Why are we playing in to the hands of BIAL? How can you allow HAL airport to close down when the government itself is saying that it is evaluating issues of capacity constraints in Bangalore?’’ Kiran Mazumdar Shaw | CMD, BIOCON




“I am very disappointed at the government’s decision. I feel the decision has been made in haste without adequate inspection into the capacity issues plaguing BIA. I stand by my opinion. While BIA is a welcome addition to the infrastructure of Bangalore, it just does not have the capacity to serve the air-traffic of the city. Keeping HAL airport is a must. In fact, Bangalore has to start thinking of a third airport, let alone debate over two.” Devesh Agarwal | CHAIRMAN, INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE, BCIC




“The government has fooled us, kept us in the dark and has not honoured public opinion. BIA has serious capacity issues and when it opens it will be worse than HAL. I don’t understand what this company (BIAL) has done with 4,000 acres of land. I wonder if they have seen any other international airport?” R K Misra | WINNER, LEAD INDIA INITIATIVE




“I am currently travelling and hence do not know the details of the government decision. However, if the government’s decision is to force the shutdown of the HAL airport and put thousands of travelling Bangaloreans to trouble and inconvenience, they will need to explain that decision and justify it. Explaining this as a contractual obligation will not be sufficient and the new government of Karnataka will need to take a decision keeping the public interest as the only criterion. There needs to be a detailed explanation by the government to the people of Bangalore and I shall seek this out without fail.’’ Rajeev Chandrasekhar | PRESIDENT, FICCI