Tejasvi Surya.
Credit: PTI Photo
Bengaluru: The proposed tunnel road could worsen congestion rather than ease it, Bangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya warned on Tuesday, saying the plan of providing 22 entry and exit ramps along the 16.75-km corridor would merely shift the traffic jams to newer locations across the city.
Surya told reporters after a meeting with Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, “When the new Hebbal flyover loop opened, the traffic jam just moved to CBI Junction. The same happened when the double-decker flyover at Silk Board was inaugurated, the bottleneck shifted to Ragigudda. With 22 ramps planned for this tunnel, the government will be repeating the same mistake on a much larger scale,” he said.
Surya argued that the Rs 40,000-crore tunnel road, stretching 30 km to 35 km, would benefit only a small percentage of car users who can afford to pay Rs 650 as toll for a round trip. In contrast, a metro ride for the same distance costs just Rs 50, he said.
“Bengaluru needs sustainable transport solutions like metro, suburban rail and more buses,” he said, adding the tunnel road can carry only about 1,800 vehicles per hour per direction, while the same investment in the metro could move nearly 69,000 passengers in the same time.
Surya also expressed concern that officials and consultants do not give complete information about the tunnel project to the deputy chief minister, pointing at the possibility of exacerbating traffic congestion in 22 entry and exit points. The government, he said, should focus on moving people and passengers, not private cars and vehicles.
The MP pointed out that a metro line is already proposed along the same alignment as the tunnel, calling it a “duplication of work and waste of resources”.
He also drew parallels with global urban transport trends. “In countries like South Korea and China, flyovers are being demolished as they are not helping in decongesting traffic,” he said. “This is not a fight,” Surya said, adding that money should be spent on sustainable projects that have long-term benefits for Bengalureans, not on car-centric infrastructure that creates new problems.
Besides urging the government to drop the tunnel project, he proposed loop bus services every five to ten minutes connecting KR Puram and Central Silk Board metro stations. Surya also urged the government to appoint a chairman for the Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA) while also appreciating the government for reviving the 74-km Bengaluru Business Corridor.