Infrastructure

BMTC is about to roll out the second generation of the Big10 system. In the first instance, the system shifted from destination orientation to direction orientation along the Big 10 arterial radials of the city (later expanded to 12). Then we added the BigCircle routes, and the cross-cutting routes of the K series. Now comes the next phase - a full trunk-and-feeder system to be deployed first on Hosur Road and then on the other arterials. Here are some of the key features (and I'll discuss each of them in detail in future posts).(a) Electronic City, Chandapura, and Attibele will be…

See potholes everywhere after the rains for a week or two? Let's remember that we spent Rs.300 crores tarring the roads just before the elections. That's literally being washed away. There is a way to deal with potholes, but BBMP doesn't want to do that. As long as that doesn't change, we can't expect better roads. In most cities around the world, the local government has a small amount of internal capacity too. I.e. they don't outsource the 100% of their engineering work. About 10% is kept in-house. This means that they have a budget for some materials, a few…

See potholes everywhere after the rains for a week or two? Let's remember that we spent Rs.300 crores tarring the roads just before the elections. That's literally being washed away. There is a way to deal with potholes, but BBMP doesn't want to do that. As long as that doesn't change, we can't expect better roads. In most cities around the world, the local government has a small amount of internal capacity too. I.e. they don't outsource the 100% of their engineering work. About 10% is kept in-house. This means that they have a budget for some materials, a few…

Traffic congestion due to increased private vehicles and expensive public transport, respiratory diseases from polluted air, pedestrians' problems owing to poor roads and footpaths et al, have become a part of life of Bangalore. Here are some disturbing realities and possible remedies to these interlinked challenges. A joint discussion held by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), in Bangalore on March 22, 2013 rated the Karnataka capital among 14 Indian cities which have high particulate pollution. They warned that it may enter the ‘critical’ category if the situation is not addressed…

Traffic congestion due to increased private vehicles and expensive public transport, respiratory diseases from polluted air, pedestrians' problems owing to poor roads and footpaths et al, have become a part of life of Bangalore. Here are some disturbing realities and possible remedies to these interlinked challenges. A joint discussion held by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), in Bangalore on March 22, 2013 rated the Karnataka capital among 14 Indian cities which have high particulate pollution. They warned that it may enter the ‘critical’ category if the situation is not addressed…

Our urban planning framework has totally misunderstood the management of parking. Starting with building bye laws to on-street parking to off-street, pretty much EVERYTHING we do around parking is wrong. And the examples that people point to as 'successful' are often very good examples of failures. The goal of the municipality should be to manage mobility, not parking. And this focus should prioritise mobility of public transport vehicles, and also facilitate good quality infrastructure for pedestrian movement. Look at the example of every major city in the world. They don't go around telling builders that for every square foot of…

Our urban planning framework has totally misunderstood the management of parking. Starting with building bye laws to on-street parking to off-street, pretty much EVERYTHING we do around parking is wrong. And the examples that people point to as 'successful' are often very good examples of failures. The goal of the municipality should be to manage mobility, not parking. And this focus should prioritise mobility of public transport vehicles, and also facilitate good quality infrastructure for pedestrian movement. Look at the example of every major city in the world. They don't go around telling builders that for every square foot of…

A lot of infrastructure that we have in the city is deliberately bad. Take the example of shoulder drains on roads. More than 200 years have passed since it was scientifically proven that water flows better in a cylindrical container than in a rectangular container (and it was known, empirically, even before the proof). So why do our 'engineers' in the city - with various titles - keep building rectangular shoulder drains?Simple - because the cronies of the corporators who hijack these contracts are not competent enough to build anything else. All they know is to pour cement (and by…

A lot of infrastructure that we have in the city is deliberately bad. Take the example of shoulder drains on roads. More than 200 years have passed since it was scientifically proven that water flows better in a cylindrical container than in a rectangular container (and it was known, empirically, even before the proof). So why do our 'engineers' in the city - with various titles - keep building rectangular shoulder drains?Simple - because the cronies of the corporators who hijack these contracts are not competent enough to build anything else. All they know is to pour cement (and by…

The proposal to widen six roads - actually, just small segments of these roads - lacks everything we would wish for in urban design. It's not part of an overall strategy of mobility in the city; it's not clear what goals are expected to be achieved; it's not being done as per the KTCP Act which requires these projects to be carried out through town planning schemes, and it doesn't even copy the best of such efforts from other parts of India. First, they are not proposing to actually widen roads, but only some stretches of the roads. Widening Bannerghatta…