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More flyovers coming on ORR, but where is BRT?
Written By silkboard - 30 August, 2009
Bangalore BDA Citizen Reports Outer Ring Road Flyovers and underpasses
Noticed 2 BDA tenders on Karnataka eprocurement portal that tell us that work is in progress for more flyovers on outer ring road (ORR). Tenders call for "project management and quality assurance" for
- ORR and 14th main of HSR layout
- ORR and Bellandur
- ORR and Devarabesanahalli
- ORR at Kalyananagar junction
- ORR and Veerannapalya junction
- Cross road at Hennur junction
Well, good going as far as keeping the promise of converting ORR to an corridor/expresssway is concerned. However, I am keen to know more about the proposed public transport amenity on ORR - the BRT system. We saw BRT lanes were marked in the designs for the flyovers in progress on ORR/Sarjapur road junctions. Why is no concrete work planned for BRT on ORR yet? I would say this is the time - engage a BRT consultant right now while these floyovers/underpasses are being built.
I have this half suspicion that BRT lanes are being shown on ORR flyover designs for "on-paper" complaince with NUTP guidelines. Lets hope these suspicions aren't true, and the intention is serious and real.
Pasting the tender titles from eproc website, just in case I made any copy paste errors above:
- BDA/EE(SplD-LPD)/TEN/2009-2010 - Consultancy services, for Project Management and Quality Assurance for • Construction of Flyover along ORR at Kalyananagar Junction. • Construction of Flyover along ORR at Veerannapalya Junction. • Construction of Grade separator with flyover along ORR & underpass for the cross road at Hennur Junction. Package-3, as per detailed Terms of Reference in Section 4 Page No. 24 to 27 of Bid documents for the entire construction period including extended period if any till final bill of the contracting agency is settled including renumeration, report, documentation, taxes, etc., complete (excluding service tax, which will be paid at prevailing rates).
- BDA/EE(SplD-LPD)/TEN/2009-10 - Consultancy services, for Project Management and Quality Assurance for • Construction of Flyover along ORR at the junction of ORR & 14th main of HSR layout. • Construction of Flyover along ORR at Bellandur Junction. • Construction of Flyover along ORR at Devarabesanahalli. Package-1, as per detailed Terms of Reference in Section 4 Page No. 24 to 27 of Bid documents for the entire construction period including extended period if any till final bill of the contracting agency is settled including renumeration, report, documentation, taxes, etc., complete (excluding service tax, which will be paid at prevailing rates).
PS: Map feature is temporarily broken on this website, or else I'd love to mark out these points on ORR.
COMMENTS
Other big issue - Silkboard and BTM layout
s_yajaman - 30 August, 2009 - 12:03
Imagine all this traffic from Hebbal, ITPL and the elevated expressway finding their way to Silkboard Jn unhindered and then...unmitigated chaos.
I wonder if any study has been done on the impact of all this partial debottlenecking (I am being very kind here) on SIlkboard Jn.
I was reading in Citizen Matters that BBMP has notified owners along BTM and JP Nagar Ring Road on land acquisition per the 2005 CDP.
Srivathsa
Naveen - 30 August, 2009 - 15:32
When the designs for flyovers at Agara & Iblur were out, there was no talk of implementation of BRT - just that provisions for bus lanes were being put in place. Thus, I was more or less certain that this was just a showpiece that would be forgotten soon.
I saw this tender on TOI today & just as SB mentions, wondered if BRT was finally being buried, once for all.
As yajman mentions, silkboard jn may see very long lines of "parked" vehicles, awaiting their turn to get past the signal, once ORR becomes signal-free, in addition to BETL & widening of ORR through BTM /JP Nagar.
All our policy makers belong to the old school of thought & worry about "loss" of road space to bus lanes when cities in china & elsewhere have adapted & used BRT so successfully.
With this line of thinking, pretty soon, there will be a fresh demand to further widen ORR to 8-lanes (& then 10 lanes!) & then add another flyover over the existing flyover at Silkboard !
silkboard - 30 August, 2009 - 16:56
Naveen referred to Sanjayv's article on citizen matters - this one - http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/print/1236-agara-iblur-flyover-options
BRT on ORR was recently mentioned in mainstream media. Can't find link to newspaper reports, and can't find a relevant comment here on Praja. Our friend at bangalorebuzz has the article safe though. Read http://bangalorebuzz.blogspot.com/2009/06/buses-to-lord-it-over-orr-soon.html
Quoting the newspaper story via b-buzz blog:
As a first step towards this, chief minister BS Yeddyurappa on Friday laid the foundation stone for a Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) project to provide for a signal-free corridor from the Central Silk Board to the Hebbal Flyover junction, by building flyovers and underpasses at six junctions on the 31-km stretch of the ORR.
Okay, that what the latest tender is for. Great. But see this - and notice a figure - Rs 239.31 crore
"It is for the first time that a dedicated bus lane is being implemented on ORR. The BDA has the provision to provide a bus lane, which is also called Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) as part of the project. The bus lanes will come up at the all eight junctions along the ORR," said a senior BDA officer.
He added that the width of the bus lanes would be 3.5metres and would be provided on both sides of the road. The bus lanes would be implemented first on the ORR and later on the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR). The estimated cost of the work is Rs239.31 crore.
There is a clear figure mentioned, bus lane width mentioned (must have told a lot more to this reporter I guess). If there is a plan in the works, why is not being revealed in more details?
I have been buying most of the promises so far. But talk of Big10 corridor and signal free ORR with only lip service (so far) to prioratized public transport (dedicated lanes for Big10 and this BRT on ORR) is beginning to worry me.
silkboard - 30 August, 2009 - 17:20
Should highlight this old news report too. Hindu, Nov 2008 (http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/11/stories/2008011159600800.htm)
The corridor has been planned because of the real estate development between Central Silk Board and Hebbal. “About one lakh flats are coming up. We expect the corridor to be of use to over a million commuters,” Mr. Gowda said.
Okay, very timely realization, get some idea of the number projections for this BRT.
But?
Even though the project is only on the drawing board, it seems to have run into problems as the dedicated corridor cannot be implemented if the large numbers of trucks using the ring road are not diverted.
So - do we have to wait for PRR to be ready then?
Also noted in this news report is talk of special high speed buses:
The transport corporation will have specially-designed buses for the corridor as they will be ply at a higher speed than regular buses, said P.S. Sandhu, director, Security, Vigilance and Environment, BMTC.
Should ask Mr Sandhu next time any of us run into him.
BRT requires 2 dedicated Lanes
j_venu - 13 October, 2009 - 19:14
ORR is 3 Lanes. BRT would require to have 2 dedicated lanes which leaves only one lane for Other Vehicles. 2 Lanes for Buses are Required considering some of the buses are Slow Moving and Some Break Downs. I dont think that is BRT feasible option on ORR.
my feeling BRT would be slowly forgotton ... on this stretch.
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