Musings from Malleswaram

Sankey Road - streching all the way from Cauvery Theatre Junction to Yeshwantpur Circle Junction is going to go the same way as Race Course Road did - widened beyond recognition. Original Story:  http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Jan212009/city20090121113747.asp " On condition of anonymity, a BBMP Executive Engineer of the Road Widening Committee, said, “The entire stretch of road from the Cauvery Theatre Junction till the Yeswanthpur will be widened as part of 91 arterial roads expansion project. The Road Widening Committee has already placed the plan, as this road is the crucial connecting road to NH 4 (National Highway). Based on the priority, the road will be demarcated and widened as scheduled”." Capt Naveen Chandra, once remarked that widening roads is like trying to control obesity by switching to larger sized pants! Widening of roads in Bengaluru does not benefit anyone. The money just fills the pockets of BBMP / BDA officials and the Contractor-Official Nexus Mafia

I have always appreciated the efforts of Shri Rajeev Chandrashekar towards development of Bengaluru. With all due respect, i find the fundamentals of his plan for Bengaluru transportation quite ridiculous and very short term in sight. Here is why: The Plan's basic assumptions are: * Have Signal Free Roads on "Arterial Roads" * Increase the number of Buses But the flaws are that not having signals adequately itself is a big problem. In Bengaluru, we have Vehicle Actuated Signals; More on that here:  http://praja.in/node/249/subscribe The point is quite simple - Adequate signalling and queing leads to better capacity utilisation, read in simple man terms - better flow of traffic. A junction or circle needs to be used by traffic flowing from all directions  and even pedestrians (It is another matter that this category is forgotten in Bengaluru!) Second - Increasing the number of buses. Buses in Bengaluru are literally the lifeline of this city. If it was not for BMTC buses,