Read an opinion of a Bangalorean about the elevated expressway being constructed from Hebbal to Bangalore BIAL- Airport.
Is the elevated express way needed from Hebbal to Airport
OR
Would constructing a railway track/train been a better option ?
See, that depends quite a bit on what the purpose of either is.
If the goal is to move air travelers as expeditiously as possible to their flight, then mass transportation makes the most sense.
If, on the other hand, the object is to improve the transportation infrastructure of the state and the country [a good idea, anyway you look at it], then a highway makes the most sense.
If, on the other hand this is an attempt to reduce traffic chaos on Bengaluru’s roads, neither is going to work. Traffic chaos is caused not by the numbers of the vehicles plying the roads but the way that plying is being done. But that is for another day.
Using a mass transportation device [MTD] solely to facilitate the moving of folks on their way to the airport makes the most amount of sense. Folks who are dropping off other folks could drop them off at the Hebbal-BIA train station. In effect make the train station the greeting station for arrivals and departures. [With a coffee shop and a smoking area, and a parking lot, please. Flights are not known or their on-time record.]
An expressway that ends at the airport makes no sense whatsoever. India needs roads to facilitate the free movement of people, goods and services. Building an expressway that doesn’t go all the way to Hyderabad (sp? Ser editor?), that could almost be an anti-national act. There can also be no doubt that the traffic between Hebbal and points east needs to be able to move comfortably.
So, it seems to me that the solution lies in combining the two needs and constructing an elevated expressway with a suspended, dedicated, MTD that peels off the expressway which then lowers itself to ground level funneling ongoing traffic onto a highway that connects the new India.
To those who suggest that this might be too expensive, I counter suggest that they… no, I can’t say that in print. I don’t know maybe we could ask some of our political HNWs to, um, contribute.
