Buses to lord it over ORR soon

Dedicated bus lanes will soon come up along the 62-km Outer Ring Road (ORR) in an effort to  boost mass transportation modes and decongest traffic inside the city.

Experts feel that this would also provide an opportunity for IT professionals to take to public transportation at the time of economic slowdown.

The dedicated bus lanes are part of the state government’s efforts to provide speedy commuting in Bangalore.

As a first step towards this, chief minister BS Yeddyurappa on Friday laid the foundation stone for a Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) project to provide for a signal-free corridor from the Central Silk Board to the Hebbal Flyover junction, by building flyovers and underpasses at six junctions on the 31-km stretch of the ORR.

The flyovers and underpasses will come up at the HSR 14th main, Bellandur, Devarabeesanahalli, Kalyan Nagar, Hennur and Veerannapalya junctions.

“It is for the first time that a dedicated bus lane is being implemented on ORR. The BDA has the provision to provide a bus lane, which is also called Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) as part of the project. The bus lanes will come up at the all eight junctions along the ORR,” said a senior BDA officer.

He added that the width of the bus lanes would be 3.5metres and would be provided on both sides of the road.  The bus lanes would be implemented first on the ORR and later on the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR). The estimated cost of the work is Rs239.31 crore.
“The average capacity of the junctions is 10,000 PCUs (passenger car per unit). The construction of flyovers is likely to reduce the traffic woes,” said the official.

Laying the foundation stone for the works at the six junctions along ORR, Yeddyurappa said:  “The 31-km stretch will be made signal free for commuters. This is for the first time, that  work on six junctions would be executed simultaneously. The project will be completed in 18 months.”

At Crossroads on Outer Ring Road
Underlining that dedicated bus lanes would make travel comfortable, traffic expert MN Sreehari said: “Dedicated bus lanes are important and it would carry more number of passengers. IT professionals would be benefited as they could opt for public transportation during the time of economic slowdown. Cars could be replaced by buses and result in decongesting of roads.”

Total number of junctions on orr: 19
No of junctions which have been made signal-free 7
No of junctions where works are currently on 4
No of junctions where work will be taken up this year 8

What will come up at six junctions now on 31-km stretch of orr:
HSR-14TH MAIN Junction
A flyover with a width of 10 metres each on both sides will come up at this junction.
The flyover will span a length 270 metres.
Approach roads will run up to a length of 160 metres on one side and 149 metres on the other.
Dedicated bus lanes on either side will be 3.5 metres wide. A 5.5-metre wide service road will be provided on both sides.

Bellandur Junction
A flyover with a width of 12 metres each on both sides will come up at this junction.
It will be 315 metres long.
Dedicated bus lanes on both sides will be 3.5 metres wide
Service roads will be 5.75 metres wide.
The approach roads will be 132 metres and 239 metres long.

Devarabeesanahalli junction
A flyover will be built with a width 12 metres on both sides
Its length will be 315 metres.
Dedicated bus lanes on both sides will be 3.5 metres wide.
5.5-metre service roads will be provided on both sides with 1.5-metre wide drains.
Approach roads will run up to a length 59 metres and 162 metres on both sides.

VeerannaPalya junction
The flyover will be 10 metres wide on both sides.
It will span a length of 335 metres.
Dedicated bus lanes will be bi-directional and each 3.5 metres wide
Service roads will be 5.50 metres on each side.

Underpass towards kalyan nagar
The underpass will provide for bidirectional traffic flow with each of the two sides measuring 9.25 metres wide.
Dedicated bus lanes will be 3.5 metres wide on each  side.
Three medians with a total width of 35.50 metres to accommodate powerline.

Kalyan nagar junction
The flyover will be 8.5 metres wide on each of the two sides.
The flyover will run up to 295 metres length.
Dedicated bus lanes of 8 metres will be provided with a median.
Service roads will be 5.50 metre wide on either side with 1.50-metre-wide footpath/drain.
Approach roads will be 59 metres and 162 metres long.

Hennur junction
Underpass towards Nagawara will be 9.25 metres wide on each side.
Dedicated bus lanes to be 3.5 metres wide in each direction.
6.60-metre median for power line.