Bengaluru’s economic growth needs infrastructure to keep pace
Dr. Krishna Reddy warns that Bengaluru's growth has outpaced its infrastructure, calling for long-term corridor planning to solve the mobility crisis.
Bengaluru is no longer just battling traffic jams; it is facing a full-scale infrastructure crisis that requires immediate, long-term strategic intervention. According to Dr. Krishna Reddy, former Secretary of the Public Works Department (PWD) and former Managing Director of the Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL), the city's rapid expansion has left its physical foundations struggling to cope.
Over the last 30 years, the city has undergone a massive transformation. The population has nearly tripled, urban boundaries have stretched significantly, and the number of vehicles on the road has surged past the one-crore mark. With RTOs registering roughly 10,000 new vehicles every month—mostly private ones—the pressure on the existing network is becoming unsustainable.
A mismatch between growth and planning
Dr. Reddy points out that the city is attempting to manage a 21st-century metropolis using infrastructure that has failed to evolve alongside its residents. As homes, offices, and commercial hubs migrate toward the outskirts, the city's growth has become increasingly radial. This forces commuters to travel much longer distances, often on roads that were never intended to handle such high volumes of traffic.
“People are either living on the outskirts, working on the outskirts, or travelling between the two,” Dr. Reddy noted. He emphasized that the core challenge is finding a way to move people quickly and safely without the physical and mental toll of endless congestion.
Why a single solution will not work
The former official argued that Bengaluru must move away from looking for a "silver bullet" to solve its mobility woes. Instead, the city requires a highly integrated system where various modes of transport work in harmony. This includes:
- Namma Metro: An essential component, though currently limited in coverage and lacking sufficient last-mile connectivity and parking.
- Suburban Rail and BMTC Buses: Crucial for mass movement.
- Micro-mobility: Improved walking and cycling infrastructure.
- Last-mile connectivity: Ensuring commuters can actually reach transit hubs easily.
Thinking above and below the ground
A major hurdle for the city is that traditional road widening is becoming nearly impossible in densely populated, built-up areas. Since buildings are already packed closely together, there is often no land left to expand roads at ground level.
Dr. Reddy suggested that the city must look toward vertical and subterranean solutions. He proposed a new generation of infrastructure, including:
- Grade separators and rotary flyovers.
- Short and long flyovers to bypass multiple junctions.
- Railway overbridges and underbridges.
- Underpasses and tunnels where technically and financially viable.
He stressed that the city must stop focusing on fixing individual junctions and start planning by corridors. Fixing a single signal or building one small flyover is ineffective if a commuter still has to navigate a dozen more bottlenecks immediately after.
The potential of continuous corridors
Dr. Reddy recalled that during his time in government, plans were already approved for two major long-distance flyover corridors. These were designed to provide uninterrupted movement across north-south and east-west routes, potentially bypassing 12 to 15 signalized junctions. Such continuous corridors could potentially divert up to 20% of the existing traffic away from heavily congested routes.
While the proposed Bengaluru Business Corridor (formerly the Peripheral Ring Road) will be a significant addition, Dr. Reddy warned that it alone cannot solve the congestion within the existing urban heart of the city. The city needs to plan for the next two to three decades rather than just seeking temporary fixes for today's gridlock.