City crawls at 13.5 kmph

City crawls at 13.5 kmph

November 8th, 2009
By Our Correspondent
Tags: Bangalore Metropolitan Area (BMA), RITES


Bengaluru, Nov. 7: Traffic jams and Bengaluru have become synonymous. And here’s a survey that reinforces this truth — a Bengalurean spends 240 hours every year in traffic jams and the average speed that he travels at is a mere 13.5 km per hour!
RITES, a Government of India instituted expert consultancy, has carried out a comprehensive traffic and transport survey which reveals that unless the Karnataka government adopts a multi-modal transport facilities, the city is headed for disaster.
The study states that Bengaluru’s population has been growing at a rate of 3.25 per cent per year in the last decade and in the Bangalore Metropolitan Area (BMA) the population is expected to increase from the 2001 figure of 61 lakh to 88 lakh in 2015 and 1.22 crore by 2025.
“There has been a phenomenal growth in the number of vehicles, especially two- and four-wheelers in this period due to rising household incomes. The number of motor vehicles registered has crossed 28 lakh. An average Bengalurean spends more than 240 hours stuck in traffic every year. Such delays result in loss of productivity, poorer air quality, reduced quality of life, and increased costs for services and goods,” the study reveals.
While the road network capacity of 2,400 km is inadequate, most of the major roads have four lanes or less with limited scope for widening, with the overall average traffic speed at just about 13.5 km at peak hours.
This indicates the need for judicious use of available road space. Currently, with junctions in core areas having only 5 legs making circulation of traffic difficult, there is a crying need for better transport system management and intelligent transportation systems.
On footpaths, the survey says that while pedestrian traffic in the core area is high, footpath facilities are inadequate and deteriorating. A walking index for Bengaluru is as low 3.6 on the national index and the city is in the last position among the five metropolitan cities.