Facing growing criticism that the proposed steel flyover on Ballari Road will result in bottlenecks at Hebbal, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) plans to extend the flyover to the elevated expressway leading to the airport. It plans to build the steel flyover above the Hebbal flyover and integrate it with the expressway flyover starting near Esteem Mall.
As per the DPR-approved design, the six-lane steel flyover will open into the four-lane Hebbal flyover, resulting in bottlenecks. With the new plan, the BDA hopes to address the problem, as the elevated expressway leading to the airport has six lanes, ensuring seamless flow of traffic, BDA engineers argued.
The Hebbal flyover will remain undisturbed and will be dedicated to traffic towards Kodigehalli and Jakkur, the engineers added.
BDA Commissioner Rajkumar Khatri said that the steel flyover will be built 5.5 metres above the one at Hebbal, with a 21-metre elevation at its highest point. “We are also planning to add two loops from eitherside of Outer Ring Road,” he said.
The BDA, however, is yet to reveal specifics of how this will be done. Multiple sources in the BDA told The Hindu that preliminary designs and technical consultations are yet to happen. STUP Consultants, who did the DPR for the steel flyover, are yet to be brought on board, sources said.
Many citizens believe that the extension of the flyover is an ad hoc decision made on the spur of the moment.
Urbanist Ashwin Mahesh said, “The announcement of the extension shows how arbitrary decision-making on infrastructure is. It also elucidates how neither data nor expertise drives such decisions.”
V. Ravichandar, member, BBMP restructuring committee, said, “Any consultant who carried out a congestion study of Ballari Road should have first attempted to fix the Hebbal bottleneck and worked backwards from there. But as per the approved design, the steel flyover ends at Hebbal. The extension is an afterthought, which raises serious questions about the design.”
Urban mobility expert Sanjeev V. Dyamannanavar said that the BDA's revised plan is puzzling. “The BDA has planned an underpass below the Hebbal flyover, which raises questions whether it will weaken the pillars holding the flyover. Now it wants to add another layer over the flyover, which only means that new pillars need to be put up on the Hebbal flyover, raising serious engineering and stability questions,” he said.
Many citizens believe the extension of the flyover is an ad hoc decision made on the spur of the moment
