The government had billed the steel flyover linking the city’s centre to Hebbal as the only viable option to decongest travel to Kempegowda International Airport. With the project being scrapped, the debate on alternative routes to the airport has once again come to the fore.
Will this pave way for Namma Metro connectivity to KIA through Ballari Road along the steel flyover alignment? In September last year, BMRCL had published nine proposed routes to KIA seeking public opinion, to which over 1,300 people had responded.
The first route proposed to link KIA from MG Road metro station through Basaveshwara Circle and Mekhri Circle along the steel flyover alignment. There are at least three other proposed routes connecting KIA from Nagavara through Hennur-Bagalur and Kothanur-Bagalur roads, that are being developed as alternative roads to the airport.
U.A. Vasanth Rao, chief spokesperson, BMRCL, refused to disclose which of the nine routes the corporation was considering. “The decision on the metro route to KIA will be taken by the State government in a few days,” he said.
Ashish Verma, associate professor, CiSTUP, evaluated the efficacy of Namma Metro connectivity to KIA, as against the steel flyover along the same alignment in October 2016 and concluded that even in the worst-case scenario of only half airport commuters shifting to metro, it would be a sustainable mode of transport till 2044.
Responding to the intense civic movement against the steel flyover, the State government has already begun work on several measures to decongest commute to KIA — widening of Ballari Road near Palace Grounds and Jayamahal Road apart from developing two alternative approach roads to a newly-opened back entrance to KIA. The alternative roads, billed to help commuters from east and south eastern parts of Bengaluru reach KIA, were temporarily opened during the recent Aero India show and will be thrown open for traffic in two months’ time.
Naresh V. Narasimhan, architect associated with Citizens for Bengaluru, said a set of minor surgical interventions on Ballari Road would decongest commute to KIA.
“Widen Ballari Road near Palace Grounds, redo the underpass at Cauvery Theatre junction to widen the magic box, and add more lanes to Hebbal flyover as BDA earlier wanted to. With two other alternative roads opening up from Outer Ring Road, these interventions are likely to smoothen traffic flow,” he said. Suburban rail connecting the airport terminal to other suburbs and metro line along one of the alternative roads being developed to KIA will easily decongest travel to airport, he added.
