Bangalore Elevated Highway
No wonder that the government took the matter seriously when people complained about the inadequacy of Hosur Road to handle peak hour traffic. 800+ crores, 3years. And here we have one of the landmark constructions of Bangalore - The Hosur Road Elevated Highway.
Inaugurated on Friday, the 22nd of Jan 2010, the highway will be operated toll-free for the first week. Post that, through traffic towards Hosur is free, I believe, but entry to EC comes at a premium.
I already did multiple trial trips on this highway. The first time on Saturday (2-way) and the 2nd on Tuesday (1-way). On day1, I would have hardly taken 6mins to glide thru the 9km stretch, touching a top speed of 105km. The speedlimit on this road is 80km :P Sensing that bro wasnt appreciating the 'glide' too much, I had to slow down to a comfortable 70. The return was at a slower 50kmph and I felt like watching an art movie, riding at that speed for the entire stretch.
On day2, it was only the return trip that was on the elevated highway. This time, we (me and Doc) did some time-analysis. From the start, to the end of the highway it is 8km. At a consistent 50kmph, it took 8mins to cover the distance. (Now dont use the equations from Kinematics and prove me incorrect!)
A few thoughts on the highway:
1. It eases traffic for sure
2. Gives a good reason for the lousy techies to go to office (no more 2 hr trips to work)
3. Beautifully lit up in the night..
On the flip side:
1. With the road below widened to 10 lanes, traffic was at manage-able levels. Add a fly-over/under pass at 2-3 places and the job would have been done. 80Cr vs 800Cr.. Big waste
2. The side-rails of the elevated highway arent high enough to stop a 'flying' vehicle from landing on an unsuspecting pedestrian/biker on the road below. With vehicles screaming at top-speed on the highway, this is not an impossibility.
3. The lanes are very narrow. One car breaking down would mean congestion on the track.
Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable trip on the highway, as long as it was toll-free :D
A bigger irony is in the waiting, when the toll-gates start getting functional. The very intention of the 800Cr project was to reduce the travel time on the stretch. Starting this week, expect long queues at the toll-gate. 8mins of drive. 10 mins of wait at toll gate.. What a wonder..
This is where it begins...
And we're on top! See the Bosch building..
Almost at the EC-side.. Thats one of the crazy Infy buildings
Tail:
1. We did take some pics. Will post soon. [Update at 8.07PM - Done]
2. It was a peaceful Republic Day this year, but ppl who (accidentally) tuned into Zoom TV would have got frustrated to the end of the world, thanks to their "Phir Mile Sur" telecast in a for-loop. These national integration songs give goose pimples while in front of TV. But their effect stops there! And the re-mix sounded more like a re-mix. Sonu Nigam trying to give it a Rock touch??
posted by Rat at 10:51 AM
2 Comments:
eda, the 10 lanes (really? we had 10 lanes?? wow!) that brought traffic to manageable levels would not have sufficed. What about the traffic that shows up in the next couple of years? This would have been similar to our BIAL airport which was already operating at peak capacity on day one!
sample this: there are parts of new york city subway that was built in 19th century (yea, 19th century!). They are still operational, handling the traffic increases over the next 100 years. In fact, MTA's slogan itself is "building for the next 100 years"
The motto here is no different..
"building for our next 100 years" - says the politicians/contractors/mediators. Their next 2-3 generations will be financially safe :D
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