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And more skywalks are announced
Written By s_yajaman - 10 February, 2010
Bangalore Bangalore BBMP Media Reports Skywalks Transportation Infrastructure Pedestrian Infrastructure pedestrian
BBMP yet again announces more skywalks. This seems to be in addition to the 50 or 60 that have not seen the light of day.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/51790/skywalk-ease-over-busy-bangalore.html
"Palike sources said the dozen locations, where heavy traffic flow cause inconvenience to pedestrians and where jaywalking is the order, have been chosen for installation of the skywalks. The spots that the BBMP has identified are Christ College, Commercial Street, Devaraj Urs Road, Himalaya Theatre, Lashkar Road Forum, MS Building, Richmond Road, Shivananda Circle near Desai Hospital, SMS Railway Junction, Subramanyanagar Police Station, Webb Junction near MG Road and Rajaram Mohan Roy Road."
At least this time they seem to have identified some more deserving candidates where they will not be putting up skywalks :). I wonder when KH Road, Bannerghatta Road near Shopper's Stop, KG Road near Mysore Bank, will see some relief.
I think there is a greater chance of Bangalore's pedestrians sprouting wings than these skywalks actually coming up.
Srivathsa
COMMENTS
Just in case people think I am being overly cynical
s_yajaman - 10 February, 2010 - 05:58
Here is a post from silkboard in Dec 2007. That is about 25 months back.
http://praja.in/en/blog/silkboard/2007/12/30/56-sky-walks-pedestrians
and again in Sep 2008 by Bengaloorappa about some EOI
http://praja.in/en/discuss/forums/2008/09/bangalores-new-skywalk-locations
Those links to the tenders in these posts no longer work. Any idea if any of those 56 have actually come up?
BIAL started construction in Jul 2005 and was done by Mar 2008.
Srivathsa
Sanjeev - 10 February, 2010 - 03:29
BBMP should have considered the NH-4 near Yesvanthpur Station to cross NH-4 and Station in one go with either sub-way or Foot over Bridge, this type provided in Mumbai. Here all KSRTC buses stops & Yesvanthpur Station passangers require to cross NH-4. Also METRO work is in progress in this section.
Also at Cantonment station, its real difficult to cross the raod infront of station & traffic gets affected due to unsafe crossing by pedestrians.
Also at Hebbal Airforce station next to Mecri Cricle they should provide the skywalks.
Any one has idea of Malleshawram pedestrians sub-way at Malleshwaram Underpass not opened even after a year.
idontspam - 10 February, 2010 - 07:25
BBMP should have considered the NH-4 near Yesvanthpur Station to cross NH-4 and Station in one go with either sub-way or Foot over Bridge
It is needed here, but If something piecemeal were to be put up now it should be modifiable to connect the yeshwantpur metro station (near goverdhan) directly to the SWR and the TTMC (coming up behind Gopal theater) without people having to comedown to the road unless necessary. One long corridor at the same level. It can have exits on to the streets via escalators where necessary. At SWR it can connect to the platform Skywalk already existing with exit escalator to the entrance plaza. They should make provisions for a travelator inside the skywalk. Infact these types of skywalk connectors should be made available at all integration points of the metro.
Naveen - 10 February, 2010 - 08:33
Not to say that skywalks are not needed, but in Mumbai, I observed the long skywalk between Bandra station & western express highway empty with very few users even during peak times.
It might make a lot of difference if elevators /escalators & walkalators are included, but then there is the question of recurring costs for power & maintenance - private parties can be given advertising rights & brought in, but will this actually see better utilization ?
Much of our crowd prefers taking risks across streets. Where such facilities are provided, roads must be barricaded & kept put of bounds for jay walkers. Nothing else seems to work. An example is the subway between city railway station & KBS where it is working excellently, despite the absence of escalators, & in spite of long walks. Churchgate station (in Mumbai) is another example for good utilization.
Skywalk escalators - test first
Naveen - 10 February, 2010 - 13:19
Our city's authorities have not failed to mention escalators whenever skywalks are announced, & announcements have been so many in the recent past, with nothing much to show for it.
If BBMP had been sensible, they would have fitted just one & by now, tested it over a period as a pilot case, & ironed out any problems for fitting others.
If & when they do start installing these, there are sure to be issues that will need addressing, & they would not only have wasted time, but a lot of money with anticipated retrofits.
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