BENGALURU: At a citizen-led event held in the city, Prof Ashish Verma, convenor, Indian Institute of Science’s (IISc) Sustainable Transportation Lab, on Sunday strongly opposed the tunnel road and double-decker corridor projects, terming them “crazy ideas” that are counterproductive to Bengaluru’s traffic woes.
The interactive session was organised by the Citizens Voluntary Initiative for the City (CIVIC) Bangalore and Bengaluru Praja Vedike in view of the Union government considering approval to the Phase 3 of Namma Metro, which proposes double-decker corridors for the simultaneous movement of Metros and motor vehicles.
“When one introduces a tunnel road or a double-decker corridor, the use of private transport increases. Having a Metro line and a roadway on the same vertical will obviously incentivise one to use private transport, as compared to the relatively slower Metro line. Instead of complementing the Metro services, the [road of the] double-decker competes with it,” he said.
He pointed out this incentivisation of private transportation is also ill-timed, considering the limited access to sources of energy because of volatility at Strait of Hormuz. “With fuel prices increasing, what sense does it make to create infrastructure that creates dependency on private transportation,” he asked.
According to research conducted by Verma’s team at the IISc Sustainable Transportation Lab, building of the Tunnel Road and double-decker projects would mean a projected additional daily fuel consumption of around 7,000 litres, amounting to approximately Rs 6.45 lakh, for the city. About 85.9 kg of Carbon Monoxide (CO), and about 1.1 kg of particulate matter (PM) 2.5 would be released in excess as a consequence, he said.
The research conducted by the lab concludes that each double-decker corridor would cost BMRCL Rs 2,863.54 crore in excess, over a standard Metro corridor.