Roads in city to get facelift

Roads in city to get facelift
Major roads in the city are being asphalted even as plans are afoot for elevated roads, says Leena Mudbidri


The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has embarked on a road development drive with the focus on all arterial and sub-arterial roads in the city. With the announcement that HAL Airport could continue to be operational, the focus is on the development of the roads in Bangalore East and the connectivity to the existing airport.
The BBMP's major roads engineering division has plans to increase traffic efficiency in this area with a slew of projects in the pipeline involving a new concept called 'vertical built-up' roads for a continuous stretch of a single flyover.
However, the current road development works involve widening, asphalting and strengthening of roads, footpaths and drains. The total cost of the asphalting works is pegged at Rs 45 crores.
According to K S Krishna Reddy, chief engineer - major roads, BBMP, in East Bangalore the BBMP has planned to improve all arterial roads as well as the Outer Ring Road (ORR) connecting Thanisandra Main Road in Bangalore East with Bellary Road leading to the international airport in Bangalore North, in a phased manner. "All roads will be widened and strengthened in phases along the entire length of the road. While work on some roads has been completed, work on others will begin as soon as the detailed project reports (DPR) are submitted by the consultants," he said.
"Banaswadi Road, Hennur Road as well as Byapanahalli Road which is the link road from Indiranagar and Lingarajapuram flyover will be widened and strengthened this year. Currently the five kilometer stretch from Nagavara to Thanisandra has already been completed and the road has been widened upto 30 metres. Tannery Road will be widened from Pottery Town Junction upto Thanisandra. However, since this stretch has been notified under the Transfer of Development Right (TDR) and it will involve shifting of utilities, the work will be completed only in the next 2-3 years," informed Reddy.
Vertical built-ups
Reddy points out that whenever any road development plans are chalked out, they are planned to sustain traffic movement for the next 5-10 years. "As time passes and traffic increases it becomes a challenge to work out quick-time solutions. And it is left to the civic authorities to keep coming up with solutions," he says. "We have plans to include utilising 'vertical built-ups' across all peripheral roads in the city," inf orms Reddy.
"This means having one long continuous flyover connecting all peripheral roads including the core Inner Ring Road to Jayamahal Road through the Central Business District (CBD) for which we have put forth the proposal," he adds.
Focus on
elevated roads
Reddy reveals plans to have more elevated roads linking all arterial and peripheral roads in the city. According to him, the concept will involve building these roads over major storm water drains (SWD). "We have presented a proposal to have an elevated road connecting Dairy Circle, Trinity Circle, Ulsoor Gurudwara, Wheeler Road to Mekhri Circle. We have engaged the services of a consultant who has started work on the DPR and once it is approved, work should begin by May end this year," he added.