TenderSURE touch for 9 high-density corridors in Bengaluru

The nine high-density corridors carrying a large chunk of Bengaluru’s traffic will soon undergo a makeover on the lines of TenderSURE or Smart City roads, which has earned praise.

Thanks to the Rs 400-crore grant from the state government, the BBMP is drawing a plan to develop 44 km of road and 110 km of footpath by taking ideas from cities that have built pedestrian- and motorist-friendly infrastructure.

The BBMP said that Bengaluru has 12 high-density corridors, including the Outer Ring Road, Tumakuru Road, Ballari Road. The civic body has excluded three roads (West of Chord Road, Bannerghatta Road and Sarjapur Road) from the existing plan as similar work is already being carried out using some other grants.

In the nine corridors, the BBMP proposes to re-design the road by ensuring that the main carriageway is uniform. Funds are earmarked for asphalting some stretches of the corridors in bad shape.

The BBMP plans to use the stone mastic asphalt (SMA) technology, extensively used in the US and Europe, to asphalt around 44.5-km of road. The SMA is considered highly rut-resistant, stable, and skid-resistant with high quantity of coarse aggregates.

A major part of the grant is also earmarked for developing the footpaths by following the urban road design standards. Officials said cycle tracks will be laid on wider roads.

B S Prahlad, BBMP chief engineer (Road and Infrastructure), said the civic body will prioritise safety, greenery and aesthetics while re-designing high-density corridors.

“It will be modelled on the lines of Copenhagen, which has built several kilometers of pedestrian-friendly footpaths. On a small scale, a stretch of Old Airport Road was developed by dedicating a bigger space for pedestrians, cyclists as well as saplings. We will replicate it on all roads,” he said.

The state government has appointed the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) as the proof-checking consultants, while the BBMP has been directed to create a high-density corridor (HDC) cell to ensure the project is properly implemented.

BBMP overpowers KRDCL

In November 2022, the responsibility to upgrade and maintain 12 high-density corridors was handed over to the Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL) because the Palike could not satisfactorily ensure the upkeep of these important roads.

In the initial plan, the government had proposed to develop the roads at a cost of Rs 300 crore and Rs 100 crore a year was set aside for maintenance.

The project did not take off as the tender process had glaring mistakes.