roads

Who has the right to park on the street? For how long? And at what price? These are questions that every city faces, and universally they have come up with some practical ways of answering them. The core of these is that parking cannot be free everywhere. There may be areas where it does not need to be priced, but surely where there is high demand for parking space, it is important to price the use of public space by vehicles. Such pricing, it is assumed, will discipline people into using their vehicles less and wherever they continue to use…

Who has the right to park on the street? For how long? And at what price? These are questions that every city faces, and universally they have come up with some practical ways of answering them. The core of these is that parking cannot be free everywhere. There may be areas where it does not need to be priced, but surely where there is high demand for parking space, it is important to price the use of public space by vehicles. Such pricing, it is assumed, will discipline people into using their vehicles less and wherever they continue to use…

Recently, the Bangalore Traffic Police made it mandatory for pillion riders to wear helmets. It's been a law, for some years now, for two-wheeler drivers to wear them. Here's a family I snapped...   This was not on any side road, it was on the main highway leading to the airport from the city.  I've had a neurosurgeon neighbour, and two of my surgeon brothers in law, tell me what horrific head injuries can happen when a two-wheeler is involved in an accident. The pillion rider can, in fact, be thrown even further than the driver, and head injuries are…

Recently, the Bangalore Traffic Police made it mandatory for pillion riders to wear helmets. It's been a law, for some years now, for two-wheeler drivers to wear them. Here's a family I snapped...   This was not on any side road, it was on the main highway leading to the airport from the city.  I've had a neurosurgeon neighbour, and two of my surgeon brothers in law, tell me what horrific head injuries can happen when a two-wheeler is involved in an accident. The pillion rider can, in fact, be thrown even further than the driver, and head injuries are…

Vittal Mallya Road was built about five years ago. When it was built, it was proposed as a higher order of design than the roads that BBMP usually builds. The difference consists of three key elements: a level and continuous footpath ducting of all utilities a concrete surface of uniform width Plus some nice things like better lighting, and a little vegetation. In Tender SURE, most of these became standard, and in BBMP we improved the design by re-doing the way the storm water drains are built. The road cost a lot of money to build. But it was a…

Vittal Mallya Road was built about five years ago. When it was built, it was proposed as a higher order of design than the roads that BBMP usually builds. The difference consists of three key elements: a level and continuous footpath ducting of all utilities a concrete surface of uniform width Plus some nice things like better lighting, and a little vegetation. In Tender SURE, most of these became standard, and in BBMP we improved the design by re-doing the way the storm water drains are built. The road cost a lot of money to build. But it was a…

We recently protested against, and stopped, an illegal meeting by the Bangalore Metro authorities, to ratify cutting trees in Reach 2. However, we can't protest all the time, and I recently found several large trees cut down on Bannerghatta Road. When will this tree-cutting mania stop in our city? Cutting the trees and widening the roads is a double whammy...we remove the beings that cleanse our air, and add motorized vehicles, each of which produces noxious fumes. It's been proved that widening of roads only causes more traffic to jam them in a downward spiral of destruction and pollution. When…

We recently protested against, and stopped, an illegal meeting by the Bangalore Metro authorities, to ratify cutting trees in Reach 2. However, we can't protest all the time, and I recently found several large trees cut down on Bannerghatta Road. When will this tree-cutting mania stop in our city? Cutting the trees and widening the roads is a double whammy...we remove the beings that cleanse our air, and add motorized vehicles, each of which produces noxious fumes. It's been proved that widening of roads only causes more traffic to jam them in a downward spiral of destruction and pollution. When…

The adage says, "there's safety in numbers". But our Bangalore citizens seem to apply this out of context. Here's a photo I snapped on Sunday.  I wonder how many more people can ride on that two-wheeler, all without helmets....

The adage says, "there's safety in numbers". But our Bangalore citizens seem to apply this out of context. Here's a photo I snapped on Sunday.  I wonder how many more people can ride on that two-wheeler, all without helmets....