BENGALURU: Even after many protests by citizens and environmentalists on the elevated corridor project, Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL) has issued a release stating that they strive to ease traffic woes of the city with the elevated corridor.
KRDCL said that the project will be implemented in four phases and is designed to alleviate congestion, provide unhindered travel and reduce travel time. “The government is looking at an integrated answer to address the transport issues. The proposed elevated corridor project that we are undertaking will be a critical component of the solution. This along with the existing suburban train network, current and proposed metro network, flyovers, ROB’s and ring-roads will significantly reduce the woes of people of Bengaluru. This will serve as a boon to Bengaluru’s transport infrastructure which is bursting from what its seems today,” said Managing Director KRDCL B S Shivakumar.
Shivakumar also added: “Hebbal to Silk Board takes the average person 100 minutes and the simple 15 kilometres from Hebbal to Lalbagh takes 60 minutes. Further, peak hour traffic is increasing and office timings no longer remain rigid. The proposed North-South, East-West, and centrally based elevated corridors will ease out traffic congestion all over our city. These will be constructed as 87.87 kilometre of multi-lane roads which will ensure that it will take no longer than 45 minutes to reach any part of the city. Once the first phase is completed, the travel time from Hebbal to Silk Board junction will be reduced from 100 minutes to 35 minutes”.
These elevated roads will have a dedicated bus lane and bus stops at 3 kms interval making public transport points more accessible. These time-saving corridors also are structured to save lives. They will be closed to two and three-wheelers reducing accidents. Lesser signals and bottlenecks will also reduce the idle time of vehicles and thus make the air less polluted and reduce the carbon footprint of Bengaluru, the KRDCL said.
However, the citizens still stand string against the project. “The Chief Minister of Karnataka responded to the massive citizen protest on March 16 even before the protest ended and committed to a public consultation. The High Court stayed the elevated corridor project because it didn’t go through MPC. I have no idea what KRDCL is trying to convey now,” said member of Citizens for Bengaluru Srinivas Alavilli.