Written By murali772 - 28 September, 2011

Bangalore Decongestion Citizen Reports Flyovers and underpasses sustainable development

On the 10th of the month, a set of mails were received on the "savekoramangala" yahoo-group from a prominent member of the community, alongwith drawings (and a list, which is attached), informing that the BDA is undertaking construction of flyovers and underpasses on Sarjapura Road (at junctions marked A, B,C & D in the map below), as part of the "Signal-free Corridor between Sirsi Circle and Agara".

Amongst other things, the mail stated:

I have been having informal meetings with BDA Engineers and have requested the Engineers to have a meeting with residents to explain the work and its likely temporary negative impact on Koramangala residents. I was assured that the Traffic Police have already been briefed and they have put in place a plan that will not have any impact on the traffic on internal roads in 3rd Block and 1st Block.

May I request you to please go through the plans and put your apprehensions on the e-group, so that the same can be taken up with BDA in a consolidated manner so that when they come for meeting with us, we can have answers. I believe one week is a good enough time to expect every ones points of apprehension. One thing we should be quite certain of in that the project has been sanctioned and is in its operational stage, so it might be much too late to question the necessity or usefulness of the project.

Some preliminary work has already started on sections of Sarjapura Road. During my last meeting, I was assured that the work will be taken up in such a manner that the traffic does not have to get either obstructed or diverted beyond opening up service roads on either side of Sarjapura Raod, till the completion of project. The time line for completion is 15 months +/- a month or two. Traffic police are on the ball on this as well.

On the very same day, I responded with "Please insist on their displaying scale models of all the junctions in the local BBMP office (or some suitable public place), alongside the technical drawings. Many details tend to get missed out otherwise".

A few others also expressed unease at the way the BDA was going about things. But, we were termed "pessimists" by the few who saw it as a positive development, to which I responded as under:

The pessimism stems out of the agencies' track records in executing such projects. How uncaring our BDA/ BBMP/ PWD lot can be to the needs of pedestrians can be seen clearly at the Domlur/ Indiranagar, Marathahalli, Krishnarajapurm fly-overs, which we at PRAJA have tried to bring out through blogs (with a lot pictures) accessible by clicking on the links provided. And, left to them, they are going to make the Sarjapur road junctions also as bad, if not worse.

I think we need to ask each of the officials to join us over a padayatra through all of these junctions to understand the problems first hand, which otherwise they fail to appreciate while wizzing past them in chauffeur-driven cars. We could also possibly ask them to first set right the wrongs already committed, to show their capability, if they have any, and then to work on fresh jobs.

Now, even if we don't want to think too much about how our maids, drivers, gardeners, etc manage their way around these edifices to catch a bus home, perhaps would at least like to think how members of our own immediate family would manage them when the need arises. Or, are we promoting a system where every member of our family, including extended ones, move around only in cars for every need of his/ hers? If so, will the present widening of roads and building of fly-overs be ever enough to accommodate the number of cars that are getting added at an exponentially increasing rate?

Besides, I don't think I quite agree with the idea of signal-free corridors across the city, like from Sirsi circle to Agara. Now, if at all it has to happen, it has to be well engineered, taking into consideration the interests of all the stake-holders. And, going by their track record, I don't think the government agencies have the capacity for that. Here I would like to pitch for the work being entrusted to the company owned by Mr Vivek Menon, who did the designing of the Vittal Mallya Road make-over (check this), and has now been engaged by the Brigade road shop-keepers assn to do a make-over of the entire stretch of their road. Mr Menon's company incidentally has engineered the real hi-tech Houston (USA) ring roads.

Nobody is against development - it's the kind of development that the debate is about. Repeatedly we are being told "project has been sanctioned and is in its operational stage, so it might be much too late to question the necessity or usefulness of the project" to push the project through. Details of such massive projects affecting every aspect of our life should have been made available to us at least a year in advance. I would say that we demand that even now, even if the current project gets delayed, so that such procedures become the practice in future.

I further added that no provision appears to have been made for the monorail line, which is supposed to pass along the very same route - check this

Apart from my objections, many people had specific objections over the detailings of almost all of the projects.

Finally, on the 23rd, a high level meeting was called by Sri Rajeev Chandrasekhar (he is a resident of Koramangala), which was attended by Mr Meena, Commissioner, BDA, Mr Siddiah, Commissioner, BBMP, Mr Saleem, Addl Commissioner of Police (Traffic), and a number of other officials, apart from a few 3rd block RWA representatives. Excerpts of the note sent out by a member who attended the meet is given below:
 
At the very outset, Rajeev made the following points:
1. The flyover/underpass issues need to be looked at in a holistic manner
2. Much of the traffic issues in Sarjapur Road are the result of junctions in Hosur Road which are not managed optimally.
3. Flowing from Sl No 2, the priority will be to first tackle Hosur Road, preferably with an elevated road which directly connects from the present Silk Board flyover and takes traffic past the Forum Mall intersection.
4. In the interim, the poorly designed underpass on Hosur Road (at the Masjid Junction) could be deepened to allow loaded buses to use it.
5. The entire object of any flyover/underpass exercise is to increase total road space available to road users not to further reduce it. As such the elevated solution appears the best option.
6. In case there is a perceived need for a solution along Sarjapur Road after the projects on Hosur Road are completed, an elevated road along Sarjapur Road from the Hosur Road intersection upto Agara would be the best for through traffic while allowing local traffic to continue to ply as usual at the lower grade level.
7. BBMP and BDA should work together instead of at cross-purposes to provide optimal solutions to problems.
 
There was a general consensus that Hosur Road junctions particularly the Total Mall junction and the Madivala checkpost junction (intersection of Hosur Road and Sarjapur Road) need the grade separator work urgently to streamline flow of interstate traffic through these junctions.
 
In the interim, while the best course of action is being worked out, work to cease on all 4 junctions immediately. This was agreed to by both the BBMP and the BDA commissioners present at the meeting. After the meeting, an inspection was held at the underpass in question on Hosur Road.
 
Our grateful thanks and heartfelt appreciation to Rajeev Chandrasekhar for taking the initiative to bring together the heads of the BBMP and the BDA and taking a giant step towards getting these agencies to understand our problems.
 
I would now like to make a request to all of you -- we would need to stay ever vigilant in case there is any attempt on the part of the authorities to go back on the commitments they have made and start work in an attempt to present a fait accompli. In that case, it may become necessary for a group of us to take direct action and go in a group to the site and stop activity. We are not talking of a hypothetical here. The same story has happened in a lot of other places. We will therefore shortly be sending out an email asking those of you who are willing to do this in case we are pushed to the wall by deceit to give us your cell numbers in case short notice mobilization should become necessary.
 
Referring to the comment "the poorly designed underpass on Hosur Road (at the Masjid Junction)", I further added

The story of poor design is repeating everywhere. Some of the edifices engineered by our BBMP/ BDA engineers and their consultants are marvels that will find entry even in the Guiness book of records for their uniqueness of design, like the Cauvery theater junction underpass, with its unique U-turn for the for-ever busy Bellary road; the Richmond road flyover, which for long had traffic lights on top, etc, to name just a few. And, all the pedestrian underpasses built recently at the Basaveswara circle and KR circle have been shut more or less permanently on account of flooding, apart from various other problems.

This morning, enroute to Kaikondanahalli (near Total Mall on Sarjapur road) lake and back, I was observing the pedestrian facilities, rather the lack of them, at the recently commissioned Agara and Sarjapur road cross fly-over junctions. They are also as pathetic as at Domlur/ Indiranagar, Marathahalli and K R Puram.

Isn't it time therefore that the sections handling these jobs within BDA and BBMP are totally wound up, and the jobs outsourced to professional outfits, like the ones who did the Vittal Mallya road?

And yes, it's time the citizens asserted their rights than allowing themselves to be lorded over by the neta-babu combo.

Muralidhar Rao
 

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