Work on the long-pending skywalk across the busy Gubbi Thotadappa Road to connect Kempegowda Bus Terminal and Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna Railway Station has finally begun. But commuters and urban experts say instead of adding convenience, the proposed skywalk will only add to the chaos and difficulty to travel through the critical transport hub.
The project, when proposed in 2014, was envisaged to integrate the footbridge of Kempegowda Bus Terminal with that inside the railway station, providing a seamless commute from the Gandhinagar-end of the bus terminal to the railway station platform.
However, the work order issued under the public-private-partnership model by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) indicates that the skywalk would not be integrated with the footbridge of the bus terminal, urban commute activists have pointed out.
The skywalk is coming up about 100 metres away from the landing of the footbridge and before the entrance of the metro station, , they said. They added that to get to the skywalk, people would have to alight the bus terminal footbridge and cross the exit of the terminal where hundreds of buses pass by every hour.
The commute on foot from Gandhinagar to the railway station already involves two subways and a footbridge. The new skywalk would only add two flights of stairs to this journey, they said.
Urban commute activist Sanjeev V. Dyamannanavar said it was disheartening to see multiple agencies of the city lacking co-ordination for over a decade and failing time and again to come together to link up various transport hubs — bus terminals, railway stations and metro stations, often next to each other. “This has been the case at Majestic, Yeshwantpur, Peenya, and K.R. Puram. The full potential of these transport hubs can be utilised only if they are linked to really act as a single hub,” he said. However, Srinivas, Executive Engineer, Special Division, in charge of skywalks, BBMP, said the design and the location of the skywalk was decided earlier and was to help Namma Metro commuters to cross the busy road. The work had already begun, he added.
Work on skywalk stalled
The work on the much-delayed skywalk across the Outer Ring Road at Bellandur has hit a roadblock yet again, with election squad officials stopping the project recently.
According to local residents, the officials visited the spot and forced the workers to stop the work, citing the model code of conduct.
Residents are wondering why the work had to be stopped when the work orders were issued prior to the code of conduct coming into force.
