Buses to lord it over ORR soon

Buses to lord it over ORR soon

Dedicated lanes on 62-km outer ring road will give a boost to mass modes of transport

Senthalir S. Bangalore



Dedicated bus lanes will soon come up along the 62-km Outer Ring Road (ORR) in an effort to boost mass transportation modes and decongest traffic inside the city.
Experts feel that this would also provide an opportunity for IT professionals to take to public transportation at the time of economic slowdown.
The dedicated bus lanes are part of the state government's efforts to provide speedy commuting in Bangalore.
As a first step towards this, chief minister BS Yeddyurappa on Friday laid the foundation stone for a Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) project to provide for a signal-free corridor from the Central Silk Board to the Hebbal Flyover junction, by building flyovers and underpasses at six junctions on the 31-km stretch of the ORR.
The flyovers and underpasses will come up at the HSR 14th main, Bellandur, Devarabeesanahalli, Kalyan Nagar, Hennur and Veerannapalya junctions.
"It is for the first time that a dedicated bus lane is being implemented on ORR. The BDA has the provision to provide a bus lane, which is also called Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) as part of the project. The bus lanes will come up at the all eight junctions along the ORR," said a senior BDA officer.
He added that the width of the bus lanes would be 3.5metres and would be provided on both sides of the road. The bus lanes would be implemented first on the ORR and later on the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR). The estimated cost of the work is Rs239.31 crore.
"The average capacity of the junctions is 10,000 PCUs (passenger car per unit). The construction of flyovers is likely to reduce the traffic woes," said the official.
Laying the foundation stone for the works at the six junctions along ORR, Yeddyurappa said: "The 31-km stretch will be made signal free for commuters. This is for the first time, that work on six junctions would be executed simultaneously. The project will be completed in 18 months.