SIGNAL-FREE ROAD CAUGHT IN LEGAL `RING'MAROLE

SIGNAL-FREE ROAD CAUGHT IN LEGAL `RING'MAROLE
Bengaluru,


Article Rank
View entire edition




The BRT system can be very useful as it will have its own signal system and help ease congestion on the roads.

But can the BDA widen roads in a developed area to accommodate it?

As you need a wide road for a BRT system, it can come up on the stretch between the Central Silk Board and KR Puram, which is six-lane. BRT can be extended up to Hebbal after widen- ing this road into a six-lane from the present four. You need a very wide road for the BRT system. This will mean displacing a large number of people and acquiring property through transfer of development rights (TDR).
Hit by legal hur dles, the ambitious project to make the Outer Ring Road (ORR) a signal free corridor between Central Silk Board (CSB) and Mysore Road junc tion and between CSB and the Heb bal flyover, is unlikely to be complet ed in a hurry.
While the BDA says its share of the work on the project is on in full swing and will be completed in two years, the stretch which is being handled by the BBMP is embroiled in litigation.

As it cannot start work on the project until the legal issues are sorted out, the BBMP says it is doing the surveying required and is identifying the properties to be acquired through Transferable Development Rights (TDR) so as to not waste more time than necessary.
. "BBMP has made its submission before the court. Once it clears the project, it will pick up steam,” says a BBMP engineer.

But these words are of little comfort to commuters as traffic snarls have become the order of the day on the ORR, hugely delaying motorists and pedestrians making their way on it. People of Ramamurthynagar in particular complain that while the BDA has planned for underpasses and overpasses on the ORR, it has made no provision for pedestrian skywalks or subways on it.

“With the city having developed on either side of the ORR, it sees very heavy traffic most days. Trucks add to the congestion, although the BDA has been saying the ORR is out of bounds

for them, except for those which carry essential commodities," says Raja Reddy, of Ramamurthynagar.
The ongoing work on making the ORR signal-free has only made life more difficult for commuters as even ordinarily it is a very busy road, leading as it does to NH 7 , the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) and Hennur.

BDA engineers plead for patience assuring that by 2012 many of the commuters' problems would have been solved.

"Pedestrian interest will not be ignored. Underpass or skywalks will be built," the officials say. With the project to make Outer Ring Road a signal-free corridor caught in litigation, it may not meet its stipulated deadline. Though BBMP is positive that all the hurdles will be cleared and the project will pick up steam, this provides little comfort to Bengalureans who say while the BDA has planned for underpasses and overpasses on the ORR, it has made no provision for pedestrian skywalks or subways on it, reports Chandrashekar G.