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Thursday , 28 March 2024

Bangalore?s Civil Society:Designs and develops a road while the government funds it

Hierarchy of road users

The pedestrians are at the heart of the plan under Tender SURE. They are followed by provisioning for cycles, public transport and lastly, motorised private vehicles. So, whenever there is a design conflict to be resolved, this hierarchy will guide the decisions. For example, to the extent possible, pedestrians? crossing at grade is desirable. This also aids in traffic calming measures. Cycle lanes need protection from motorised vehicles. Public transport is acknowledged as the necessary mode for sustainable mobility over time. The design ensures smoother flow for them, and provisioning for bays and accessibility modes is paramount.

Right of Way (ROW) as start point

Under the Tender SURE guidelines, 32 road widths in the city have been mapped and classified into Arterial, Sub-arterial, Collector, Local and Sub-local. For these ROWs, model allocation of lane widths for the multiple modes is set out. Traditionally, pedestrian lane width allotment is based on what?s possible after the motor vehicle needs are taken care of. Under Tender SURE, they get pole position in the plan. Another trait of city roads is the varying width for motor vehicles depending on land availability. Under Tender SURE, the motor vehicles get uniform lanes and in the city centre, these could be even three metre lanes. The surplus land area is used to provide islands, bus bays, hawker zones, etc. Another important focus of Tender SURE is the entry and exit from premises ? in traditional execution this is not considered and often the pathway abuts into the road lanes. Detailing varying cross sections in considerable detail is another important element.

Think life cycle costs

Road cutting is a huge menace and disturbance for commuters across the city. This is because there is a need to access utilities for repair and the utility firms often have no clue of their asset lines below the existing roads and footpath. If one reckons the initial capital cost of the roads and its subsequent maintenance/repair costs, there is a case of underground duct provisioning at the outset (higher capital outlay) that leads to low running costs. The latter approach is advocated under Tender SURE. Over a 15-year-period, the life cycle costs of the Tender SURE designs with underground duct (including cross ducts) provisioning work out cheaper than the current methods that also have sub optimal designs for pedestrians, cycles, entry/exit, etc. Storm water drains in many areas are next to house properties and not next to the roads! This is uniformly planned alongside the roads and the guidelines suggest cylindrical drains over the traditional box drains.

Integrated tender across departments

Another major innovation is getting multiple government and private utilities as part of the road design and execution at the outset. Normally this is done in silos leading to repeated road cutting for access to utilities (new and old). Under Tender SURE, all utilities are part of the apex project team and they plan for their needs in conjunction with the others. The tender is also a unified one where there will be a lead contractor (roads & footpath) with sub-contractors specialised in laying utility lines. This experiment in Bangalore is the first of its kind in the country.

Project monitoring

Volume II of Tender SURE contains the draft tender conditions. These have been designed to be compliant with GoK guidelines. There is a provision for third party inspection and use of project management companies. The execution and monitoring of the project is the responsibility of the government agencies with BBMP as prime agency. It is hoped over time that with increasing transparency of government project execution, there would be space for interested citizen volunteers to be part of the project implementation phase.

In terms of sequence, BCCF?s Tender SURE is the third such street/road design initiative in the country. The earlier initiatives around the same period were by UTTIPEC in Delhi and ITDP in Ahmedabad. Indian cities need more such initiatives if the mobility infrastructure is to improve. The Bangalore experiment has an additional element ? there has been an informal memorandum of understanding that the City Connects? efforts in this space (final spend `85 lakhs) will be reciprocated by the Governments? willingness to implement the suggestions on a scale basis (`300 crore currently). Execution is currently underway and while the jury is out on how it pans out finally, this experiment represents the potential possibilities of civil society and government working collaboratively to make a difference in Indian cities.

V Ravichandar
Chairman
Feedback Consulting
(V Ravichandar is an evangeliser for the idea of City Connect, a platform that exists in five Indian cities).

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