Flyovers, underpasses will only shift point of congestion, says mobility expert

'Time saved on steel bridge will be lost in Hebbal, Chalukya Circle'

The car-ownership which was 100 for every 1,000 population has now gone up to 700. The city, which has 64 lakh vehicles, continues to register at least 1,500 new cars every day.

The percentage of car ownership is going to increase along with the growth in per capita income. Can the government build flyovers and underpasses to match the vehicle demand?  Is it possible to satisfy the need of car owners?

This is the argument Dr Ashish Verma, mobility expert and associate professor, department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, raised during the technical session on “No Steel Flyover.” The public meeting was hosted by the volunteer group, Citizens for Bengaluru, on Sunday.

“Flyovers, underpasses and road-widening projects are not a sustainable mobility solution. These are only short-term and populist measures and the point of congestion will shift from one place to another. The situation will be the same with elevated toll expressway where the time saved on steel flyover will be lost in Hebbal and at Chalukya circle,’’ said Verma, who is also president, Transportation Research Group of India.

He argued that the personalised mode of transport will not come down unless there is a good public transport facility. “Car is seen as the symbol of wealth in our society. The number of car ownership is going to increase and the road capacity will come down. The government should instead focus on traffic management and public transportation,” he said and added that the world’s top liveable cities have good public transport.

“We have to learn from the mistakes committed by many developed countries which also underwent the vicious circle of congestion earlier and then took the path of sustainable mobility,” he said. He gave the example of The Netherlands where almost 60% of the people in Amsterdam use bicycle to commute.

“The government should stop the madness of constructing and expanding more and more roads and flyovers. Improving infrastructure to promote public transport, cycling and walking is the need of the hour. And, we certainly have the opportunity to leapfrog,” he noted.

41,848 say Steel-flyover-beda

Meera Mukund (67), a resident of Basavanagudi, is among the 41,848 people who have spoken up against the steel flyover project. A ballot box campaign conducted by the Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB) group on Friday has recorded the opinion of 41,848 people, including 10,204 residents of north Bengaluru. They all said, “Steel-flyover-beda.”

Collecting the opinion of citizens along with their names, mobile phone numbers and addresses was one of the action plans adopted by the volunteers besides planning a massive rally in the coming days. Sumedha Choudhery, 14, from Bannerghatta Road, said she too opposed the project and asked her classmates to register their voice as 812 trees will be axed for the project.