Bengaluru needs to park its problems

Bengaluru needs to park its problems
Bengaluru,


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The civic agency's plans to build parking lots at Old City Central jail, Gandhi Bazaar Market, SP Cross Road, Russell Market, Kengeri, Yelahanka, near the football stadium on Richmond Road and near the Dr Ambedkar College, have met with no success, although it was announced that they would be executed using the Swiss challenge method The state capital, grappling with high volumes of traffic, is yet to come up with a solution to its parking woes.

While successive governments have promised to provide multi-level parking lots at strategic locations in the city, these have remained on paper, leaving vehicles double parked adding to the congestion and chaos on Bengaluru’s narrow roads, report Chandrashekar G. and Amit S.

Upadhye

It is obvious to everyone that Bengaluru’s roads are not able to handle the volume of traffic seen on them today. Most people have given up trying to find parking in the heart of the city during the day when the traffic is at its peak as even the bylanes here are lined with cars, sometimes on both sides, making traffic conditions still more difficult.
According to one estimate nearly 40 per cent of the roads in the city are occupied with parked vehicles that end up obstructing the smooth flow of traffic. The problem is quite acute as over 60 per cent of roads in the city are less than 80 ft wide and the parked vehicles take away from what little space there is.

While the government has for years been promising to provide multi-level parking lots at strategic locations in the city, it has done little to make this a reality. Over the years the BBMP has built only three parking lots. While the parking lots at Garuda Mall on the Magarth Road, Commissariat Road junction and at the Maharaja complex on KG Road are helping to take the pressure off the roads, the other parking lot on JC Road does not seem

to have many takers as the road remains lined with as many parked cars as before.
The civic agency’s plans to build similar parking lots at Old City Central jail, Gandhi Bazaar Market, SP Cross Road, Russell Market, Kengeri, Yelahanka, near the football stadium on Richmond Road and near the Dr Ambedkar College, have met with no success, although it was announced that they would be executed using the Swiss challenge method. With the BBMP having failed to deliver, the government is now looking at the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) to

step in and build 10 multilevel parking centres (MLPC) at a cost of Rs 1000 crore in the city.
The projects will have to be placed before the BDA board before they can take off.

Also, land will have to be found for them as it is no longer clear whether the authority will build the parking lots at the locations already identified by the BBMP.

Will the city get an automated parking lot at Gandhi Bazaar as planned? It doesn't seem likely considering the cost of the project, say official sources.