Fanciful elevated corridors

Just when a massive public outcry against the steel flyover has apparently pushed the state on the backfoot, an even bigger monster project has resurfaced: A 110-km, Rs 20,000-crore plan for a network of elevated corridors crisscrossing the city. The big idea is this: Shift private, personal traffic on to these massive flyovers so that the roads underneath get magically decongested.

In effect, yet another vehicle-centric, car-focused agenda threatens to throw Bengaluru into a decade of a costly, cumbersome construction chaos. Disguised in a ‘people-friendly’ avatar, the project promises car-owners the ultimate dream: Rapid transits across the city in 45 minutes flat. Now, this speed estimation is based on a hugely questionable premise: That the city’s vehicular population will remain within limits!

The limit did not stop at 40 lakh, when the project was first envisaged. Neither has it now, with vehicle numbers crossing a mindboggling 66 lakh. Ten years from now, that number will have skyrocketed with no certainty that this project of massive proportions would be complete.

Project unsustainable
Traffic and mobility experts see ‘unsustainable’ written all over the corridor project. Every flyover built to decongest the city roads has failed in its primary objective. How will a network of such elevated roads be any different? In no time, those roads too will get clogged by cars, they predict in unison.

The reason is clear: The project, as urban architect Naresh Narasimhan points out, does not fit into a larger Mobility Plan for the city. “Bengaluru needs a vision that is uniquely suitable for the city. Projects should align with this long-term goal. The corridor is like loosening your belt to fight obesity.”

There is absolutely no talk of a public consultation. A Pre-Feasibility Report on the project is not in the public realm. Nor is it available for subject experts. But the project planners have already embarked on soil-testing for the elevated corridor near Hebbal flyover and Jayamahal Road. Their rationale: Public can speak after a Detailed Project Report (DPR) is ready.

The corridors are designed to link Hebbal with Silk Board junction through a North-South corridor;  Varthur with Kengeri and Peenya with KR Puram through two East-West corridors. Also on the agenda are three connecting corridors. The entire project is to be implemented by the Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL), an arm of the Public Works Department.

Problematic assumptions
The planners are convinced that once all the elevated corridors take shape, the roads below will clear, boosting their traffic-carrying capacity. This assumes that a big proportion of the private, personal vehicles will shift even if the elevated lanes are tolled.

But, as urban mobility experts point out, there is a glaring problem with this assumption. At least one lane will be lost to the flyover pillars on the roads below. This loss will be more pronounced at the junctions.

Inevitably, public transport will not be benefited. BMTC buses can say goodbye to bus-priority lanes. Since bus stops are ruled out on elevated roads, private cars and SUV owners who can afford the high tolls will be the only beneficiaries.

The essence of the argument against a vehicle-centre approach to mobility is this: You cannot perennially increase the road space, horizontally by widening or vertically by building flyovers.

More the road space, bigger the number of vehicles. Besides, traffic descending on flyover ramps always merge with the traffic underneath, adding to the congestion.

Viable alternatives
So, what are the alternatives? An affordable, efficient public transport system, eco-friendly taxis, bicycles and pedestrian-friendly roads. Not the ugly flyovers that constitute a 20th century model focussed on the oil economy, as a mobility analyst put it.

The city’s underutilised but widely spread out railway network could be leveraged to introduce a workable commuter rail system. As seasoned campaigners for this much-needed network point out, this system could dramatically decongest many arterial roads at a fraction of the corridor project. 

But in the government’s priority list, the private vehicle owner comes first. This, as everyone seeking a more durable mobility plan says, goes against the very essence of the National Urban Transport Policy 2014 (NUTP 2014). The policy clearly seeks “a more equitable allocation of road space with people, rather than vehicles, as its main focus.”

Against NUTP 2014
Here’s what the policy document contends: “At present, road space gets allocated to whichever vehicle occupies it first. The focus is, therefore, the vehicle and not people. The result is that a bus carrying 40 people is allocated only two and a half times the road space that is allocated to a car carrying only one or two persons.”

In the process, the lower income groups effectively, end up paying, in terms of higher travel time and higher travel costs, for the disproportionate space allocated to personal vehicles. “Users of non-motorised modes have tended to be squeezed out of the roads on account of serious threats to their safety.”

Now, how does a network of corridors that exclusively caters to private, motorised transport help in rationalising the road space? Should Bengalureans endure years of construction chaos, mounting pollution and an explosive vehicular growth to find an officially sanctioned answer?

TOLLED CORRIDORS
All indications are that the network of elevated corridors will be tolled. Three main corridors are part of the plan, one North-South and two East-West routes. Each of these will have six lanes. The network will also have three connecting corridors, each with four lanes. While a Pre-Feasibility Report has already been prepared, an American firm, AECOM, has been assigned the task of  preparing a Detailed
Project Report (DPR).

LINKAGE WITH STEEL FLYOVER
The government had received a suggestion to align the proposed Basaveshwara Circle to Hebbal steel flyover with the North-South corridor between Hebbal and Silk Board junction. This corridor is designed to pass through Jayamahal and Mehkri Circle. However, a change in alignment of the steel flyover has now been ruled out.

COMPARISON WITH WORLD CITIES
Cities worldwide are making a big shift to sustainable transport options and pulling down flyovers. Cycling and walking are being promoted in a big way. Last week, Copenhagen, for the first time, recorded more bicycles than cars on the road. But why is Bengaluru moving in the opposite direction, creating more space for polluting cars?

The response to this question is often a counter-question: How can Bengaluru be compared to a European or Western city? Isn’t our reality different from theirs? Sankaran admits that Bengaluru is not cycle-obsessed Amsterdam. Not yet. But, he says, almost all cities are switching to sustainable modes. Brazilian cities such as Curitiba are comparable to Bengaluru. If they can change, why can’t we? If Singapore is a model to build fancy trumpet interchanges and large elevated highways, why can’t Amsterdam be a model for walking and cycling?

Online petition against corridors

 

An online petition has been filed against the proposed elevated corridor at www.change.org, contending that the project will not solve the congestion problem. To prove this point, the petitioner, Sathya Sankaran refers to the highly congested ‘signal-free’ Outer Ring Road stretch between Hebbal and Silk Board.

Besides, Sankaran notes, “the area underneath all the elevated monsters are left to rot as though the people who use the surface are not worth any good infrastructure. Union Minister for Road Transport Nitin Gadkari had in a recent event mentioned that building 55 flyovers in Mumbai did not solve any problem.”

Raising concerns of trust deficit and capability, the petitioner adds: “The agencies in Bengaluru who plan/build the elevated roads and flyovers design these contraptions in a flawed manner so as to cause maximum damage to traffic management both during and after the construction, even if not intentional. We are throwing good money after bad if we believe they are somehow magically going to do this better.  If they can't engineer the surface well why would you trust their engineering skills?”