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This was the toll plaza a couple of weeks after the Delhi Gurgaon expressway opened.  Shows the futility of trying to keep up with cars.  When I watch the cars in Bombay on the WE Highway heading towards town most have ONE person in them.  70 kg of man and 1000 kg of metal. 

I am sure all the people in the above pictures would fit into 1 MRT 6 coach train.

I don't know if things have improved a great deal in the last 1 year.

Srivathsa

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I think I will stand near Silkboard a few weeks after the highway is opened to watch what happens.

This is probably what you will see

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There are probably 100 cars in there with an average of 2 persons in each. A 3 coach metro can hold 5 times that number and will reach the destination before the cars can clear the toll booth. Hows that for comparision?

We still need highways leading outside the city and maybe a solution is to not have physical booths at all. Have RFID driven gantries instead like the congestion charging ones in Singapore and Stockholm which can deduct toll automatically. If you dont have those instruments you are probably better off using the non tolled highway below. 

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That toll plaza "boasts" 16 lanes in each direction.  Traffic seems to have backed up 12-15 car lengths and more seem to be behind.  That would be about 300 -350 cars - would still fit comfortably into a 3 coach MRT train.

That road is 27 km long.  So 27 km in 20 mins + 40 mins at the toll plaza and we have averaged a spectacular 27 kmph.  They have sensible toll rates such as Rs.17, 11, 34, etc. which help in increasing transaction times. 

Srivathsa

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Here is some news from Express.  BETL will be thrown open to the public in May.

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Elevated+highway+to+be+ready

I hope they have thought through a few things

a. Managing accidents and breakdowns.  If one or worse both lanes get blocked because of a breakdown or accident, how does a towing vehicle/ambulance reach quickly.  They have exits only at each end.  The part of the road behind the accident will be crazy - so no access from there.  A towing vehicle will have to drive against the traffic to reach?  Do they have removable median sections to provide accress or create counter flow lanes?

b. Toll collection - hopefully only at exits and NOT at entrances.  The toll booth at the exit will serve to regulate traffic as well into the city roads near Silkboard.

c. How will they regulate speed on the expressway given Bangaloreans' good sense of safety and voluntary submission to rules and regulations?

I think I will stand near Silkboard a few weeks after the highway is opened to watch what happens.

Srivathsa

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