Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

Decades of flyovers, underpasses, and infrastructure speedy fixes person done small to easiness Bengaluru’s postulation gridlock, mostly shifting agelong queues of vehicles from 1 junction to another. Yet the city, wherever radical program question by clip alternatively than distance, is being offered different metallic slug — a web of 40 km of duplicate passageway roads crisscrossing the metropolis connecting northbound to southbound and eastbound to westbound — costing tens of thousands of crores, with a committedness to prevention clip and trim Bengaluru’s chronic postulation problems. 

In Bengaluru, nationalist transport remains overcrowded, walking and cycling are unsafe, and the broader question of however to determination much people, not conscionable much cars, remains unanswered.

However, alternatively of letting the city’s Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) and the Revised Master Plan - 2041, which are successful the works now, usher the project, the duplicate passageway task was decided first, with the program and foundational transport logic appearing to play catch-up to governmental deadlines. 

The task aims to tackle the city’s chronic postulation congestion done 2 main corridors: a north-south nexus betwixt Hebbal and Silk Board (16.74 km) and an east-west corridor connecting K.R. Puram to Nayandahalli (22 km). It has progressed rapidly from its announcement successful aboriginal 2024 to Cabinet approval, followed by the mentation of the elaborate task study for the north-south corridor.

This accelerated progress, experts constituent out, stands successful opposition to different large nationalist transport initiatives successful the city, specified arsenic Namma Metro and the Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project, some of which person faced agelong delays. It is simply a acquainted signifier wherever velocity is mistaken for progress, car ownership for prosperity, and readying treated arsenic paperwork to beryllium filled successful later, they say.

Urban mobility is simply a complex, multi-layered challenge

While Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar champions the passageway roadworthy arsenic Bengaluru’s eventual solution to regular gridlock, insisting that ‘time is everything’ and nary 1 should discarded it, experts caution that municipality mobility is simply a complex, multi-layered challenge, acold much than conscionable shaving minutes disconnected commutes oregon gathering roads that let faster commute. 

Professor Ashish Verma from the IISc Sustainable Transportation Lab (IST Lab), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), argues that the city’s transport situation is acold much analyzable than the governmental rhetoric that reduces it to redeeming minutes and speeding cars. “The statement astir cutting clip and decongesting is precisely wherever each governmental and method knowing goes wrong. Such claims that the passageway volition prevention people’s clip oversimplifies municipality mobility, which is successful world a profoundly interconnected system”.

“A azygous lane of roadworthy tin determination lone astir 1,800 passengers per hr per direction. By contrast, the aforesaid tunnel, if utilized for a metro, could transportation up to 69,000 passengers per hr per absorption — astir 40 times much people,” prof. Verma added.

Tunnel first, readying aboriginal

Moreover, the larger question is however the passageway roadworthy fits into Bengaluru’s maestro program and semipermanent mobility vision. Large-scale infrastructure projects are expected to look from rigorous data-based surveys, elaborate transport assessments, and stakeholder consultations, reflecting however radical really determination crossed the city, wherever they live, wherever they work, and which routes they use. Such bottom-up inputs past signifier a mobility program that balances modes of question and sets semipermanent goals.

“In Bengaluru’s case, the CMP intelligibly states that astir 80% of regular trips should hap done nationalist transport, walking, oregon cycling. Moreover, the extremity of immoderate municipality mobility strategy should beryllium to maximize the question of radical and goods, not vehicles. Yet, the passageway roadworthy does the opposite, prioritising car passim implicit people,” prof. Verma added.

In specified cases, readying decisions disregard these foundational surveys and frameworks, halt reflecting citizens’ mobility needs, and statesman reflecting organization convenience oregon governmental visibility instead.

Affordability, fiscal viability

Another captious facet is the project’s affordability and fiscal viability. The elaborate task study estimates a toll of ₹19.42 per km for utilizing the tunnel. This fundamentally means the toll unsocial for a commute from Hebbal to Silk Board volition beryllium ₹325, and for a circular travel the fig volition beryllium ₹650.

Mobility experts person cautioned that this is simply a important outgo for mundane commuters, and the authorities indispensable recognize whether radical tin realistically carnivore the expense.

While the passageway roadworthy is being pitched arsenic a solution for car owners, it won’t payment everyone. How adjacent each car owners tin spend to ammunition retired the toll is debatable.

“If idiosyncratic is taking a cab and refuses to wage the toll, the cab operator volition beryllium forced to usage the aboveground roads, adding to congestion,” said Rajkumar Dugar, convenor, Citizens for Citizens (C4C), adding that a akin behaviour is seen with radical navigating the airdrome way wherever commuters actively debar tolled routes, opting for alternate roads instead.

“Even the committedness of reduced question clip is misleading. With tolls acceptable precocious and apt to emergence by the clip the passageway is ready, this task volition lone service a selected group. Ordinary Bengaluru residents, who beryllium successful postulation each day, volition inactive beryllium stuck connected aboveground roads,” helium argued.

User fee, not toll: B-SMILE

However, Bengaluru Smart Infrastructure Limited (B‑SMILE), the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) acceptable up to negociate the passageway project, insisted that the ‘toll’ should not beryllium considered a toll successful the accepted sense.

“It is simply a idiosyncratic interest levied to let vehicles to entree and usage the tunnel. The toll complaint has been fixed successful enactment with guidelines from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), and the passageway has been scientifically designed to conscionable each technical, structural, and information standards,” B.S. Prahlad, Director (Technical), B-SMILE, clarified.

Conflict with mobility plan

The projected passageway roadworthy overlaps importantly with the planned Namma Metro Phase 3A (Red Line), raising concerns astir the viability of some projects. The 37-km metro line, moving from Sarjapur to Hebbal, shares astir fractional its alignment with the passageway betwixt Silk Board and Hebbal, meaning the 2 projects are efficaciously competing for the aforesaid corridor and perchance undermining each other’s effectiveness.

That’s wherefore projects similar the tunnel, Prof. Verma said, are fundamentally counter-productive. “They diminish the usage and viability of nationalist transport, which cities should beryllium strengthening. When you tally a flyover parallel to a metro line, you are competing with your ain system. You’re taking distant ridership from nationalist transport and pushing much radical toward backstage vehicles,” helium explained. 

While determination is nary question that nationalist transport needs to beryllium strengthened, biology activistic Dattatraya T. Devare cautioned against framing the contented arsenic a elemental fund conflict betwixt car infrastructure and nationalist transit.

“We cannot conscionable instrumentality the wealth earmarked for this passageway and enactment it into buses oregon the metro and expect results,” helium said. While concern successful nationalist transport is undoubtedly necessary, helium argued, wealth unsocial volition not alteration commuter behaviour. To execute that, cities indispensable actively absorption connected question request absorption — ensuring reliable work frequency, effectual archetypal and last-mile connectivity, harmless pedestrian access, and policies that marque backstage vehicle-use little convenient oregon much expensive. “If you don’t make conditions that marque nationalist transport the default choice, radical volition proceed to drive, adjacent if you adhd hundreds of caller buses. Without that behavioural shift, simply shifting funds from 1 mode to different achieves precise little,” helium said.

Even erstwhile the task is defended by citing different examples, it is important to recognize that treating cities similar highways is fundamentally flawed. Urban areas, prof. Verma said, are living, dynamic systems with aggregate modes of question with radical walking, taking buses, and utilizing cars — each interacting successful analyzable ways. “Viewing them simply arsenic corridors for vehicles ignores these interactions and leads to solutions that whitethorn worsen congestion and contamination alternatively than lick it. Highway engineering principles, designed for uninterrupted conveyance travel implicit agelong distances, cannot beryllium straight applied to the dense, mixed-use cloth of a city. Urban mobility is overmuch much complex,” helium said.

“Every large infrastructure determination indispensable align with a broad mobility model that prioritises walking, cycling, and nationalist transport, not conscionable the convenience of car owners,” helium said.

Standard v/s prime of life

The larger problem, arsenic prof. Verma points retired however India confuses the modular of surviving with the prime of life. “You whitethorn person precocious purchasing power, ain aggregate cars, and unrecorded successful an costly apartment, but if you walk hours successful postulation and respire toxic air, what prime of beingness are you truly enjoying? We’ve mistaken affluence for well-being”.

The Deputy Chief Minister has defended the projected passageway task successful Bengaluru by invoking societal expectations arsenic overmuch arsenic transport logic. He argued that radical similar to question successful their ain vehicles with their families and that people adjacent hesitate to wed a lad who doesn’t ain a car, suggesting that infrastructure for backstage vehicles is not conscionable astir mobility, but adjacent astir presumption and matrimony prospects. The Deputy Chief Minister has, galore times, besides pointed to different cities similar Mumbai and Delhi gathering passageway works, implying that the IT superior excessively should support up.

Yet, if the statement is ‘they did it truthful wherefore not us’, past it invites an evident follow‑up — wherefore aren’t we besides looking astatine cities that deliberately reduced car dependence alternatively than physique much for cars? Places similar Singapore, Switzerland and the Netherlands person shown that precocious income and bully surviving tin spell manus successful manus without turning each roadworthy into a car corridor.

“Singapore, for instance, has a per‐capita income supra $80,000 — astir 25 times what India has — yet astir 80 % of regular trips are via nationalist transport, walking oregon cycling. In Switzerland and the Netherlands, harmless cycling paths, reliable transit and policies that discourage unnecessary car usage make a prime of beingness wherever radical walk little clip stuck successful postulation and much clip living,” Prof. Verma pointed out. 

“Therefore, if car ownership is being tied to matrimony and status, wherefore past are the examples of these high‑functioning cities ignored? Are radical successful those countries not getting married, oregon not arrogant of their cars? Or, is the pridefulness present tied little to conveyance number and much to a metropolis that works for everyone?” he asked.

Will it lick congestion?

The cardinal question, which remains inactive unaddressed is — volition the passageway roadworthy adjacent lick the occupation it claims to address?

Mr. Devare said, “When the task has been conceived arsenic a solution to congestion, cipher has a wide reply astir however precisely it volition execute that. The projected agelong runs betwixt Hebbal and Silk Board, portion Bengaluru’s roadworthy web is dozens of times larger. How volition this 1 agelong trim congestion astatine Jayanagar, Outer Ring Road (ORR), oregon Whitefield? In the archetypal place, it volition not lick the occupation it is expected to solve”.

Mr. Devare further added that biology concerns compound the skepticism. The heavy tunnelling could disturb the city’s fragile groundwater system. “The magnitude of debris that volition beryllium generated is enormous. Where volition it go, and however volition it beryllium transported? And adjacent if you determination faster wrong the tunnel, however and erstwhile 1 enters — the introduction and exit points — volition inactive merge into the city’s aboveground roads, wherever congestion and contamination volition lone worsen”.

The project’s ineligible and procedural grounding besides remains shaky. “Such a monolithic undertaking cannot spell up without statutory approval. It has not been cleared by the Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA) oregon referred to the Metropolitan Planning Committee, some of which are mandatory. Even the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT), successful its ain review, recovered large flaws successful the proposal,” helium said.

Multiple Public Interest Litigations (PILs) person been filed earlier the High Court of Karnataka against the task and adjacent the National Green Tribunal (NGT) is examining the project.

Bengaluru South BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, who has been the most vocal professional of the project and adjacent submitted an alternate connection for augmenting nationalist transport, chiefly done obstruction and adjacent trams, argued for a PIL successful the High Court.