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Bellary Road Elevated Concerns

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Written By tsubba - 14 June, 2008

BIAL Traffic Bangalore Infrastructure Metro Rail

Krishnaprasad of the hindu reports that DMRCL, which is involved with the high speed rail to BIA, has raised objections to plans for an elevated road corridor between minsk square and hebbal. Apart from this, Govt authorities are also concerned that HSR will eat into road widening efforts that will create a six lane corridor between mekhri circle and hebbal. ----------------------- High Speed Rail Link to airport likely to stall road development Krishnaprasad http://www.hindu.com/2008/06/14/stories/2008061461390300.htm *Flyovers, elevated road cannot be built on the stretch *The rail link will only benefit those travelling to the airport *DMRCL has raised objection to a plan to build an elevated road corridor along the stretch Bangalore: The proposed High Speed Rail Link (HSRL) from Bangalore city to the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) at Devanahalli is likely to become a hurdle for all future plans to develop the Sankey Road-Bellary Road stretch, which is the main entry and exit point to the fast growing northern parts of the city. This means there will be no flyovers, underpasses, elevated road corridor or tunnel road corridor on this stretch irrespective of the increase in the density of traffic in future. The result is likely to be never-ending traffic snarls for those using this stretch of road. The rail link will only benefit those travelling to the airport. It appears that such a situation is a possibility as Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRCL), which has been entrusted with the task of executing the HSRL, has raised its objection to a proposal to build an elevated road corridor along the stretch. ‘Awkward’ Interestingly, sources said DMRCL has, in a recent meeting on various issues related to airport connectivity, termed as “awkward” the proposal of having an elevated road corridor till Hebbal flyover along with HSRL. The Government was examining a proposal to build an elevated road corridor between Minsk Square and Hebbal flyover as a long-term traffic management plan keeping in mind the fast developing northern parts of the city. However, the remark from DMRCL has raised many eyebrows among the State officials as HSRL appears to be emerging as an obstruction to other development works. “HSRL is meant for only for use of those travelling to the airport and not for others. Why should other road development works suffer just for this purpose?” asked an official, who is involved in the upgradation of city’s road projects. Meanwhile, some traffic engineering experts associated with the Government pointed out that only 20 to 25 per cent of vehicles plying on this stretch are bound for the airport. That means 80 per cent of the vehicles plying on this stretch continue to use this road irrespective of the airport and hence priority should be to help the general road users. “Soon the stretch between Hebbal flyover and Mehkri Circle will be widened and it would be the widest road corridor inside the city having six lanes. HSRL will cut into at least one to two lanes of this stretch thus resulting in a bottleneck,” a traffic engineering expert said. “Construction of a tunnel or an elevated road corridor cannot be taken up after HSRL,” it was pointed out. Some engineers working with the Public Works Department, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) also agree with this aspect while pointing out that spending over Rs. 3,000 crore just to provide rail link exclusively to the airport will not be a wise decision. Instead, it should be converted into a mass rail system for the benefit of the people and only then can the pressure on the road be reduced. ------------------ Meanwhile, here are some questions: does the elevated corrdior between minsk sq and hebbal make sense? does a high speed rail to BIA make sense? does widening the bellary road leading upto hebbal make sense?

COMMENTS

expressway grounded too

tsubba - 14 June, 2008 - 02:54

Expressway to BIA grounded DH News Service, Bangalore: The State government, citing a study report of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), has told the High Court that the proposed super expressway connecting the Outer Ring Road and Bangalore International Airport (BIA) is not feasible. Advocate-General Udaya Holla, in his subm-ission on the airport conne-ctivity, informed the court that the NHAI, which conducted a techno-economic study on the project, had concluded that it was not a feasible project. Instead, a high speed railway link will come up. The advocate-general said the 22-km expressway had also run into rough weather following probl-ems related to land acquisition. “The land price is more here, with each acre cost-ing Rs five crore to Rs six crore and there are some residential layouts too over there,” he said. A division bench comprising Justice Ram Mohan Reddy and Justice Jawad Rahim, which heard the matter, came down heavily on the Central government, stating that it should have thought of the problems when the airport project was initiated. “It is a chaotic response from the Central government. Why did the Union government not think of this?” the court questioned. “The cost is not an exception. It is the people’s money. Bring down the risk. They should be benefited,” said the court. Despite the negative report, however, the NHAI was requested by the State government to reconsider the expressway project. The high speed railway link will be coming up as an alternative. The government counsel said that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation had been appointed as a consultant for the railway project. “Public notice will be issued soon inviting expression of interests from the parties,” said the State government counsel. The State also informed the court that the improvement work was underway on 46 connecting roads to the new airport, and would be finished by Dec 2008. The government counsel also said two signals — at the CBI junction and at Sanjaynagar junction — would be shifted. The matter was adjourned to June 30.

Not a sensible road!

narayan82 - 14 June, 2008 - 04:42

I personally dont find the Expressway a feasible idea. It is too much investment for a very small cause. Instead Develop bellary road to make it "signal free", barricade it and build flyovers at the Yelahanka Interchanges. If you look it, time is lost within the city,, after Hebbal the road is quite even. And with the high speed rail on track I am not sure if a tolled road is even a profitable idea. Again if it is a PPP then there maybe vested interests that block Hebbal road, so people are forced to pay the toll and take the expressway.

Extend Metro to BIAL

mcadambi - 14 June, 2008 - 06:30

Extend the Metro to BIAL - the purple line which stops at Byappanahalli could be extended to BIAL, which is about 30 kms from there. This purple line could be extended into other areas so that it would facilitate the IT crowd working in software parks along Old Madras Road and ITPL to live close to those areas.

Reform TDRs

mcadambi - 14 June, 2008 - 06:50

The Kumaraswamy Government had introduced a scheme, the 'Transfer of Development Rights Scheme'. In this scheme, the people affected by land acquisition are benefited by having additional FSI/FAR through TDR.

While in theory the scheme was good, it has to be further refined. I suggest the following:

1.) Government pay only Gazetted Value to properties for acquisition

2.) Government has to issue unconditional TDRs for the parties affected

3.) These TDRs can be used for building hospitals with additional FSI, hotels with additional FSI, schools / colleges with additional FSI and even apartments / IT parks as well.

4.) There can be a sub-clause that these additional TDR enabled FSI be applicable only to outskirts of the city and not with BBMP or CMC / TMC limits.

5.) The person who was originally alloted the TDR should have a 99 year validity on it's transfer and can sell the TDR to parties interested.

Illustration:

Government acquires 5 acres of land from farmer, Shri Krishnappa by paying 5 lakhs per acre, which is the gazetted value. The market rate is say around 20 lakhs per acre. Government issues TDRs to Shri Krishnappa with a 99-year validity.

XYZ group (lets assume is a real estate developer) has 20 acres of land in the outskirts of Bengaluru and wants to develop IT Parks and Apartments there. The FSI there is about 2.5. XYZ now purchases the TDR from Krishnappa at 5 crores - because additional FSI is worth much more. XYZ now builds more. Krishnappa now gets 5 crores.

What this does is to get the private sector to indirectly fund creation of public infrastructure. 

mono rail

narayan82 - 14 June, 2008 - 14:28

There is a Mono Rail planned to complement the metro. It seems to be a great option. It costs less then the metro is easier/quicker to build and is far less expensive. The down size is that it carried only half the number pf Pax per hour. But, if used as a feeder service to the Metro it can work wonders. There is a plan to build a Mono rail to the areas of Jayamahal, mekhri Circle, hebbal and other surrounding areas. This can be extended up to BIAL also serving Yelehanka and surrounding areas. In fact if work starts on in it in a year, it should be completed in time with the Metro... If only.....

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