[sustran] Wider roads equal more traffic:

[Vinay Baindur]

http://www.bangaloremirror.com/bangalore/civic/Wider-roads-equal-more-traffic-Its-a-lesson-learnt-from-London/articleshow/44881720.cms?

*Wider roads equal more traffic: It’s a lesson learnt from London*
Bangalore Mirror Bureau | Oct 20, 2014, 04.00 AM IST

[image: Wider roads equal more traffic: It’s a lesson learnt from London]











Work on Cunningham Road is causing inconvenience to commuters heading in
and out of CBD.













*The decision to use the TenderSure specifications on CBD roads has
supporters and detractors*



*RK Misra, BBMP TAC andDirector, Center for SMART Cities *This is in
response to the recent article in Bangalore Mirror on TenderSure roads
incorporating wider footpaths and uniform width of traffic lanes. In the
process, at some places, the road width is getting reduced. Commentators
who feel that this will add to traffic jams can't be blamed, as this is a
common sense theory that you can reduce the traffic congestion by widening
the roads. Unfortunately, this is not the case in real life.

In a fully-developed city, widening the roads is impossible as cost of land
acquisition is 5-10 times more than that of road building. BBMP has been
unable to widen any major roads in the last 4-5 years. Wherever they have
managed to widen, it has been only partial and zigzag, like Nrupatunga
Road, Kasturba road and Sheshadri road. Has traffic congestion come down on
these widened roads? Every widened road in Bangalore or anywhere in the
world is immediately taken over by additional vehicles and the congestion
remains the same. It is a demand-and-supply mismatch: the more you build,
the more will come to occupy it. We need to think differently. We have to
manage the demand instead of just increasing supply.

In a city like Bangalore, where greater personal wealth allows people to
afford private vehicles, they have very little incentive to use public
transport. Another major reason for people shunning public transport is
absence of walkable and continuous footpaths. Only way we can encourage
people to use public transport and thus reduce traffic congestion is to
provide high quality, safe and continuous footpaths and other
pedestrian-friendly amenities such as bus bays, shelters and street lights.
This is why we in BBMP TAC designed and approved TenderSure Roads.

CBDs are the best places to encourage pedestrian movement and public
transport as has been done across the world. London reduced road width to
encourage pedestrian movement and public transport and so did Singapore and
Tokyo. People living or working in CBD usually move around with a radius of
1-2 kilometers and will be willing to walk or take public transport if they
have safe and walkable footpaths and that will reduce the traffic
congestion.

Not only Bangalore's main CBD, TenderSure should be extended to all local
area CBDs of Indiranagar, Jayanagar, Koramangala, Whitefield, Malleswaram,
Yelahanka and all other major live-work-play localities and suburbs of
Bangalore. This is the only way to reduce traffic on Bangalore roads.

Bangalore is a mega city and needs to use the best global practices and
expert advice in managing its traffic vows. Traffic management is a science
and can't be managed by just using bureaucratic common sense.


*I objected to it, but **we have our orders*


*M Lakshminarayana, BBMP commissioner* I am aware that roads in central
business district are getting shrunk because of ongoing TenderSURE works.
But I am helpless and I cannot do anything here. I have just been told to
implement the plan that was submitted to the BBMP and we are just executing
it.

*"I was personally reviewing the project on a weekly basis when I was
principal secretary of urban development department. In fact, at that time
itself I had suggested the other agencies (knowledge partners) should allow
the official civic agencies to function as they have the experience of
executing major roads. But the agencies were firm on their plan and didn't
allow us to alter anything. *

"We were aware of the problems which will be faced by two wheelers and car
owners once they entered in CBD districts. But no one was in a mood to
listen to our engineer's plans and even the government told us to just
implement the project. Now if traffic gets choked on these roads, then BBMP
should not be blamed as this is not our plan. But the good thing here is
that pedestrians get more space to walk."'



*We are Caught in a crossfire*


*Basaraj Kabade, BBMP's technical engineering cell's executive engineer*
"We are caught in a crossfire. While the High Court orders us to give
priority to pedestrians the police have been demanding widening of roads to
ensure smooth traffic flow. It is true that road size will decrease and it
might create more hassles for the motorists and the traffic police. We had
informed our higher-ups and members of technical advisory committee members
about the possible traffic problem that the new design could cause."