Can the high road end traffic lows?

While there's a clamour from urban experts for “elevating” the road network to decongest the city, there's an equally vocal outcry from environmentalists against the move. An elevated corridor built in the right manner is the only way to end the traffic gridlock say urban planners. The 'greens' warn against concretization and global warming. Instead of digging our heels in, the city should commission an environment impact assessment and greater public consultation before the project gets the green signal say Chandrashekar G. and Aksheev Thakur.

For a city like Bengaluru that is growing at a rapid pace, multi-modal transportation is the need of the hour to ease traffic congestion. The East-West and North-South Corridor, stretching about 95 km and costing Rs 15,825 crore, is aimed at providing connectivity to Metro, bus services and to ease congestion on roads.

“The elevated corridor which will be commissioned in five phases over the next four years is necessary for Bengaluru. Since Metro corridor has not been established across the city, the corridors help bridge gaps between the Metro, commuter train and even BMTC buses,” Vivek Menon, urban planner and expert, told Deccan Chronicle.

Such a project is necessary to decongest the city. Even in foreign countries, cities have toll roads criss-crossing Central Business Districts. The idea is to bring people from fringes to the core of the city, he said.

“The project will be executed by the Karnataka Road Development Ltd. This is the step in the right direction to bail the city out of traffic gridlocks. We suggest that the government do not ignore public consultations and Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) to minimise the green cover loss. The government has agreed and these processes will begin in the next couple of months,” he said.

Further, the corridors will be built with modern reinforcement techniques to reduce large pillars, which will not affect the aesthetics of the city. The proposal is to build the flyover at 15 metres height to minimise cutting of trees and clashing with skywalks and grade separators. To minimise inconvenience to the public during the construction, the government is thinking of upgrading the Outer Ring Road and nine other major corridors, he explained.

The six corridors, three major and three connecting ones, will be constructed on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) - Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM). In financial terminology, HAM is an arrangement where payment is made in a fixed amount for a considerable time and then in a variable amount for the remaining duration. Further, the government has also agreed to foot the land acquisition and utility shifting bills.

Another urban expert R.K. Misra too is in favour of the elevated corridors and has been vocal about its implementation.

High-speed toll
The elevated corridor will be a toll road, but public need not worry about long queues at toll plazas. High-speed toll plazas have been planned and toll tags could be operated through mobile phones without having to stop.

To cost Rs 15,000-odd crore
Since the project will be executed in five phases spread over four years, the cost will not be a burden on the government. It has been planned on PPP and hybrid annuity model where the government need not shell out more money.

Clash between Railways and Metro
There is always a clash between South Western Railways and Metro Rail. Ideally, it is not logical to allow commuter train or railways within the city where Metro is operating. Commuter trains are meant to bring people till the fringes of the city and from there Metro will take care of their commute.

Pollution level to go down
The elevated corridor will help reduce pollution as it provides seamless movement of vehicles and there will be no emission of carbon dioxide from vehicles stranded in traffic jams.

‘Govt must consult eco-activists, experts before planning projects’
Uncontrolled growth of the city and mindless development projects have put the city’s environment in crisis and the administration has failed to consult environmentalists and civic experts before taking up such projects, activists said.
An Indian Institute of Science (IISc) research, headed by Dr T.V. Ramachandra, has proved that unabated concretisation of the city will reduce the green cover to 6.46% by 2020.

The elevated corridor that is being planned now will reduce the city’s green cover further. Though they are not opposed to the government’s proposed infrastructural projects, the green activists said that the administration should include opinions of civic experts and environmentalists before evolving a plan.
“There has been no consultation with citizen groups, and in our country, there is no concept of sustainable development. Infrastructural projects should not be executed at the cost of environment,” said tree doctor Vijay Nishanth.

He said that traffic decongestion should be on the list of priorities for the government. “But Bengaluru is not Karnataka. Other parts of the state should also be developed by diverting industries to those areas. There will be a balanced growth then,” he said.

The Metro Rail, which was launched with much fanfare, is already congested and the city needs 12,000 BMTC buses, given the burgeoning population of the city, experts pointed out.  

The conservationists also said that even if trees are translocated, at least one area is deprived of its green cover and chances of survival of trees after translocation are only 25%.

The government’s talk of balancing growth with environment is bunkum. The entire eco-system on the way to the airport has been destroyed. Real estate and construction cartels are behind this. It is high time we adopted the Climate Change Resilience Planning. Now there is no such concept in our urban planning.
— Kshitij Urs, executive director, Greenpeace India

Executive Director, Greenpeace India, Kshitij Urs, said that the government frequently talks about balancing growth with environment, but it is only a myth. If it goes ahead with its plans for an elevated corridor, it will be a contempt of court, he warned.

“The eco-system along the international airport has been destroyed completely. It looks like real estate and other construction cartels are at work,” he said.

Policy analyst R.K. Misra and Biocon CMD Kiran Mazumdar Shaw have supported the elevated corridor project. But, Mr Urs said, they are being arrogant and dismissive of the intellectual value of democracy. “Ms Shaw was supporting the Electronic City flyover, but it has not reduced traffic. Instead of opting for such projects, the government should aim at reducing the number of private vehicles on roads and promote public transport,” Mr Urs said.

Tweets

Sir, why blame single occupant cars when u r facilitating them with #ElevatedCorridors ? Ppl wud always choose cheaper & faster commute option. MEBP Volvo bus passes cost Rs.4500/month (incl GST) while one wouldn't b spending >Rs.2000-3000 on fuel for their own cars- @Kalkur_Vivek

Whoever is telling to come by bus, please travel in @BMTC_BENGALURU bus on ORR in peak hours. Cross the roads on ORR in peak hours. Then talk abt public transport. Ppl dont enjoy to drive in blore, but they dont have any choice until metro comes up- @TinyStep1

Please stop this cosy club meetings, where delivery is done by someone else and you have no control. BPAC should be disband as it has no authority and it is a cosy club of elite folks selling their ideas to govt- @Shirishs00

Please note- All tweets are in response to policy analyst RK Misra's pro-elevated corridor tweet and his meet with the Deputy CM over the completion of the infrastructural projects

We need the right mobility projects: Ashwin Mahesh, civic expert

When was the last time you went for a walk in the city, confident of being able to use clean and continuous footpaths to take your stroll? When was the last time you rode the bus, certain that it would be comfortable, convenient and quickly available? When was the last time you dared to ride your bicycle on the streets, looking forward to enjoying the weather and the leisure of your ride?

Sadly, for almost everyone in the city, these questions may as well be from another planet. After decades of constructing one project after another, we find that we have arrived at the wrong destination. Even now, as we scramble to look for answers, the ones that come to mind quickly are more projects.

But it won't work. As long as we continue to propose projects without a plan, and without a vision of where we want to go, we cannot progress.  There is another way. It is simple, and sensible. We need to ask – what do we want our city to be? And once we have come to an answer to that question, we will find that the right mobility projects are quite easy to identify. We need a much larger number of buses, so that private vehicles can go off the road. We need much better footpaths, so that short trips can be done on foot. We need fast trains that connect to the suburbs that more and more people are going to in search of affordable housing.

All of this has been discussed repeatedly, both outside and inside government. The only thing left is to do what we have always known to be the right things. Before we can decongest the city, we must elevate our minds out of the horrible ideas that have wrecked it.

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