[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by Gnashman

Speaking of, are we the only city where almost all flyovers are separated? By that I mean, all flyovers have two service lanes at the lower level on each side.
Is there a significant benefit to this mode of construction (other than ostensible less disruption of traffic during construction) that I am missing and the civil engineers out here can guide me on?

As fair as I know, this mode of construction was adopted keeping in mind space for the BRTS (Bus Rapid Transit System) project on ORR. The project never took off though.

[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by Gnashman

Speaking of, are we the only city where almost all flyovers are separated? By that I mean, all flyovers have two service lanes at the lower level on each side.
Is there a significant benefit to this mode of construction (other than ostensible less disruption of traffic during construction) that I am missing and the civil engineers out here can guide me on?

My friend, you forgot the piece'-de'-resitance'
THE BUS STOP AT BEGINNING/END OF THE FLYOVER

[balenoed_]

Originally Posted by Gnashman

Speaking of, are we the only city where almost all flyovers are separated?

Originally Posted by sandsun7

As fair as I know, this mode of construction was adopted keeping in mind space for the BRTS (Bus Rapid Transit System) project on ORR. The project never took off though.

I thought it was made like that to give space for metro rail pillars to come in whenever they are planned - Yes, now it is. No?

[nagr22]

Originally Posted by Gnashman

Speaking of, are we the only city where almost all flyovers are separated? By that I mean, all flyovers have two service lanes at the lower level on each side.
Is there a significant benefit to this mode of construction .......

Ufff.. where do I start? Bangalore's outer ring road was planned with an intention to use the fast lanes as dedicated bus lanes with bus stops beneath those separate fly overs. You can still see the sign boards "BMTC buses only" near the entrance of flyovers above the middle lanes. It's a very good plan actually but for reasons unknown to me, they did the complete opposite and converted the left lane as bus lane
That's how we have now ended with useless middle service lanes which are designed like exits to fast lane and lead to several accidents. Several drivers unaware that the fast lane is going towards the exit, realize it at the last moment and change lanes suddenly causing collisions (I have been a victim of one such collision and also caused it once).

TLDR; those middle service lanes were meant to be bus lanes but now they are not.

[mvadg]

^^^
ORR is substandard even by Indian highway standards, and quite narrow for a city with poor public transport and high numbers of private and commercial vehicles. Worse, Bengaluru's roads make up a smaller percentage of the overall area of the city than in the case of other cities. This means there will be jams at entry and exit points.

Bus lane seems to be another idea tacked on later by some other bunch of bureaucrats, compounding the problems of undercapacity and poor design.

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by Gnashman

Speaking of, are we the only city where almost all flyovers are separated? By that I mean, all flyovers have two service lanes at the lower level on each side.
Is there a significant benefit to this mode of construction (other than ostensible less disruption of traffic during construction) that I am missing and the civil engineers out here can guide me on?

Originally Posted by balenoed_

I thought it was made like that to give space for metro rail pillars to come in whenever they are planned - Yes, now it is. No?

How can you miss the main objective? Twin flyovers equal twice the budget and therefore twice the money flowing into the pockets of our corrupt politicians and beaurocrats. The rapid bus lane, space for metro, etc are just coverups or side projects for more corruption.

[itwasntme]

Just came back from KIAL. Be very mindful of the almost daily changes being made to traffic flows adjacent to the terminal building area as well as the half-cloverleaf flyover & access roads.

There is inconsistent signage, sudden narrowing and widening of roads, over-familiar cabbies driving too fast, equally unfamiliar drivers trying to figure out things, manual signalling by traffic staff and construction vehicles moving around on the road. A lethal cocktail indeed!

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

The pedestrian-friendly revamp a few years ago has transformed the place. They now have pedestrian-only days sometimes along Church Street

Some interesting reading:

https://bengaluru.citizenmatters.in/...-of-life-68445

"Church Street pedestrianisation reduced air pollution, improved quality of life: IISc study"

"Church Street was closed to vehicular traffic on an experimental basis every Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to midnight for four months, from November 7th, 2020 till February 28th, 2021. The study was done during this period. Church Street is currently open to vehicular traffic."

"Clear improvement in air quality"

"Further, more than 50% of restaurant owners and gift shop owners on Church Street agreed that pedestrianisation led to an increase in customer footfall, revenue, and had an overall positive effect on business."

"Modes of transport –

Visitors: Private vehicles: overall 7% decrease
Public transport: 7% increase

Shop owners: Private vehicles: overall 15% decrease
Public transport: 11% increase

Metro: 162% increase in metro ridership"

[airbus]

Old airport road is getting some makeover. Half of the footpath is marked as cycle lane. If authorities can make cycling safer, more people will be encouraged to take cycle.

[gtonsing]

Originally Posted by am1m

Some interesting reading:

https://bengaluru.citizenmatters.in/...-of-life-68445

"Church Street pedestrianisation reduced air pollution, improved quality of life: IISc study"

"Church Street was closed to vehicular traffic on an experimental basis every Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to midnight for four months, from November 7th, 2020 till February 28th, 2021. The study was done during this period. Church Street is currently open to vehicular traffic."

"Clear improvement in air quality"

"Further, more than 50% of restaurant owners and gift shop owners on Church Street agreed that pedestrianisation led to an increase in customer footfall, revenue, and had an overall positive effect on business."

"Modes of transport –

Visitors: Private vehicles: overall 7% decrease
Public transport: 7% increase

Shop owners: Private vehicles: overall 15% decrease
Public transport: 11% increase

Metro: 162% increase in metro ridership"

I dont know if these metrics are because of Church street pedestrianisation because in my mind, a couple of days a week of pedestrianisation would not have such an impact on vehicle decrease, or public transport increase or even improved air quality that much.
Incidentally, we were in Church street I think in the last week of November on a sunday and we were able to drive all across the street. Not sure if this pedestrianisation was done as an experiment for a short time? (Sorry not read the article :lazy:

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by gtonsing

I dont know if these metrics are because of Church street pedestrianisation because in my mind, a couple of days a week of pedestrianisation would not have such an impact on vehicle decrease, or public transport increase or even improved air quality that much...

Agree.
Data from government and related agencies should always be suspect, so should data collected with some agenda.
There were probably other factors that influenced the metrics presented.
(College taught me the rewards of cooking data versus presenting dismal results )

[am1m]

Originally Posted by mvadg

Agree.
Data from government and related agencies should always be suspect, so should data collected with some agenda.

Fair enough, though from the article the author seems to be a reputable source. Either way, yes the metrics seem rather optimistic. What is undeniable though is the much better experience that Church Street, MG Road and the surrounding areas are these days, post the Metro and the focus on bigger footpaths and pedestrian-friendly planning. (This is from personal experience- used to go to school in that area in the 90s, used to hang around that area as a teen and during my first few jobs in the 2000s.)

Cubbon Park on Sundays when it's shut to traffic is heaven.

Again from personal experience, Gangtok and Darjeeling town centers being shut to traffic make for excellent experiences too.

We can nit-pick on data, but real-world experiences do indicate that reducing the dependence on personal transport and planning for public transport+pedestrianization, especially for the city center makes for a better quality of life.

[anandhsub]

For a change a chance to rant on something other than the ORR.

Had to go to Infantry Road for some official work this weekend. Made the big mistake of taking the usual detour via St Johns Road From Old Madras Road and not just continuing further on MG road like Maps was suggesting me to. To my shock I found 50% of all the roads around Ulsoor to Shivaji Nagar are currently closed due to some "smart city" work. Took me an hour to go from Bhaskaran road to Commercial street which earlier used to take <10 mins.

If the heart of the city has such pitiable roads I guess should just learn to live with what we get in the outskirts.

[fordday]

Originally Posted by balenoed_

I thought it was made like that to give space for metro rail pillars to come in whenever they are planned

Seriously! Do you think these guys have so much foresight?

Originally Posted by Jaguar

How can you miss the main objective? Twin flyovers equal twice the budget and therefore twice the money flowing into the pockets of our corrupt politicians and beaurocrats. The rapid bus lane, space for metro, etc are just coverups or side projects for more corruption.

This seems like a logical reason for twin flyovers

Originally Posted by anandhsub

Had to go to Infantry Road for some official work this weekend. Made the big mistake of taking the usual detour via St Johns Road From Old Madras Road

If the heart of the city has such pitiable roads I guess should just learn to live with what we get in the outskirts.

Took the Banaswadi - BTM route yesterday evening. Much of the heart of the city roads seems under construction, dug-up or very roughly patched. Riding my Activa solo over these combined with unlit streets took me to another level of off-road adventure.

[gtonsing]

Originally Posted by fordday

Seriously! Do you think these guys have so much foresight?
-------Much of the heart of the city roads seems under construction, dug-up or very roughly patched. Riding my Activa solo over these combined with unlit streets took me to another level of off-road adventure.

Work In Progress city. Very rightly said by one of the FM radio hosts a while ago and I keep re-using it blatantly. And very true, if one part is finished, another part gets started, if one road is paved, next day power or drainage or cable companies or GAIL or some other will dig it up