Indian Roads Thread

[vera_k]

Kamal Nath in the WSJ.

India's Road to Progress

[SSridhar]

Wrong side driving claims lives

A private taxi driver was killed on the spot and six others travelling in the car were injured when two cars collided head-on at the Madurai-Melur four-lane national highway.It is alleged that Syed Ibrahim was driving the car on the wrong side of the road as he had to drive a two-kilometre stretch and join the right side.

Only a few days ago, a school van, which was transporting 17 persons including 12 children, was involved in a head-on collision with a private bus near Chittampatti as the van driver was coming on the wrong side.

This is a very common occurrence not only on NH roads but even on city roads. The more we change, the more we remain the same.

[Sachin]

This is a very common occurrence not only on NH roads but even on city roads. The more we change, the more we remain the same.

Cannot agree with you more. Even in the last week trip from the socialist republic, I had seen this happening. The route was the four lane highway between Avanashi and Hosur. The specialists of these moves were folks in "TVS 50" mopeds (it is I guess a kind of state symbol of Tamil Nadu ), coming exactly on the wrong way. All had a facial expression that it was the other drivers who were actually violating the rules.

And the sad part is that if some poor car driver hits (and most likely kills) these fellows, the whole village musters up and starts harassing the car driver . And the excuse would be a the "rich car owner killed a poor TVS 50 moped rider".

2 years ago we had posited that silkboard( and thus the last leg of that flyover) would be a major bottle neck).

I had to take the elevated stretch on the same evening of the inauguration. There was a minor traffic jam at the place where the flyover touches down to the old Hosur road. Of course since it was the first day the traffic was less on the elevated fly over. But lost around 7-8 minutes there. And after that it was fun driving towards M.G Road. It was like driving at around 2kmph.

[krishnan]

Wrong side driving claims lives

A private taxi driver was killed on the spot and six others travelling in the car were injured when two cars collided head-on at the Madurai-Melur four-lane national highway.It is alleged that Syed Ibrahim was driving the car on the wrong side of the road as he had to drive a two-kilometre stretch and join the right side.

Only a few days ago, a school van, which was transporting 17 persons including 12 children, was involved in a head-on collision with a private bus near Chittampatti as the van driver was coming on the wrong side.

This is a very common occurrence not only on NH roads but even on city roads. The more we change, the more we remain the same.

Driving on the wrong side just to avoid driving 1/2 a km and taking a 'U' turn, not using the foot over bridge or the sub way because it involves extra walking, these are just so common at-least in chennai. Not just uneducated , its the educated MNC going people who do the same thing
. Today got stuck in heavy traffic because people are too lazy to use the foot over bridge

[Suraj]

General driving skills will certainly lag the road development rate, particularly if Kamal Nath's efforts at pushing the rate of roadbuilding bear fruit. Yes, it is a legitimate problem, but there are many precedents of the same. There's no alternative but effective implementation of traffic policing, and even so, goals will have to be realistic, because it will take a while to develop road sense. While driver training is important, the sheer rate of growth of new automobile traffic (we add 1 million new vehicles, from two-wheelers to trucks, every month) makes this a tremendous challenge. There are identical driving concerns elsewhere - just see what you get upon typing 'chinese drivers' on youtube search.

[nachiket]

And the sad part is that if some poor car driver hits (and most likely kills) these fellows, the whole village musters up and starts harassing the car driver . And the excuse would be a the "rich car owner killed a poor TVS 50 moped rider".

We need to get rid of the uniquely Indian concept of national highways that pass right through the center of villages. It presents more opportunities for accidents especially since we take pride in flouting every single traffic law. It also causes unnecessary delays because you are reduced to driving at 30kmph on the highway in that sector.

[lakshmikanth]

We need to get rid of the uniquely Indian concept of national highways that pass right through the center of villages. It presents more opportunities for accidents especially since we take pride in flouting every single traffic law. It also causes unnecessary delays because you are reduced to driving at 30kmph on the highway in that sector

Thats not really a solution because villages crop up on the side of national highways (new villages or villages that might migrate to the side of national highway because of "real" estate value)

The real solution is to make them completely access controlled and police em thoroughly. That way even if villages crop up at the side of national highways or if national highways cut right in the middle of them, the danger is minimal.

This is usually the case in massaland (or any other reasonably developed country)

[Sachin]

The real solution is to make them completely access controlled and police em thoroughly. That way even if villages crop up at the side of national highways or if national highways cut right in the middle of them, the danger is minimal.

More than any thing else, this would require strong political will. And that is some thing which we find tough to have. The standard argument of "oh.. the poor villagers, their means of free travel is curtailed for a few uber-rich people speeding in their cars" would sooner or later come up. Some local politician with visibility to only the nearest Panchayat/Zilla Parishad election would start the rabble rousing.

Nobody will say that villages have to be isolated and villagers left to perish. But the socialism concepts of "every one being equally poor, or without resources" need to go. Most of the newly laid highways byepass through major cities, or villages. But as rightly pointed out soon businesses start coming right next to the highway (good road) for getting more revenue.

[D Roy]

The emphasis is of course on "access controlled".

That is precisely what distinguishes a real expressway from just a four laned highway and China from India.

However if we are really serious about building "world class" infrastructure we better get a little tough on not letting people encroach on public property in the name of socialism.

[lakshmikanth]

However if we are really serious about building "world class" infrastructure we better get a little tough on not letting people encroach on public property in the name of socialism.

As Sachin mentioned above this will not happen in a non-homogeneous grass root democracy like ours where local influences are strong and civic values are low.

To add a bit of my personal here:
"1000*" years of rule by foreign invaders who had no interest other than loot the public has made the public react to it in a peculiar way: By being selfish to the point of being uncivilized. This was necessary to survive under the invader, it made things easier for both the invader and the public. In the process it also solidified the feudal systems that already existed. This structure was pretty solidified when the EIC morons landed here from UQ, which made their jobs to ravage what was left even easier. If my hunch is correct then I guess many Indians under the Her lowness-Queendom would have prayed that Brit Morons stayed on as our sole ruler because its in their benefits, I would not be surprised to know if this group of Indians were the majority. Although I hope I am wrong.

Now we are slowly but surely getting out of that mentality, it will take atleast a 100 years for the mango-aadmi in India to realize that we are truly free and that freedom comes with a responsibility of being civil. We can already see the small light by how the middle class revolts these days when one of them gets shot (Jessica Lall case for example). This process has to continue to its logical end.


*As claimed by some dubious Porki sources or our own leftist historians.

[Dileep]

My solution. Have only two kinds of highways.

1. Access controlled, tolled, divided expressways.
2. 2 lane, undivided feeders to the above.

Works well at least in the Socialist Republic

[D Roy]

Dileep,

Your solution is exactly what the GOI intends to do as evidenced by the NHDP's current phases and mandates.

but if we really want to keep growing at 9 per cent for a 25-30 year period we need more of the "access controlled" kind of thing in the transport sector. Something that our darling economists often fail to mention is that Vajpayee's first NHDP thrust did play a role in taking us to a different growth trajectory. it is no coincidence that we went from the 5-6 percent bracket to the 7-9 per cent very soon after we started getting a little serious about road communication.

Meanwhile,

lakshmikanth, you have summed it aptly.

the lack of any notion of being a "citizen" is indeed the reason why our country looks dirtier and more unkempt than some very poor African countries. There's no dirth of private facilities mind you. you'll now find a cyber cafe in some of our "darkest" areas. But there is also a notion that it is okay for a "man" to make money whichever way. no questions asked no moral compunctions. a nice free for all.

Nobody becomes a "man" for standing up for what is right anymore. Pathetic. However I would qualify that 100 year figure. if we keep growing at 9-10 per cent for a 30 year period things will change. They will initially get worse because now there are more opportunities to cheat people but the self-correction may also happen quicker with some people demanding better governance.

That bullshit socialist phase saddled us with a 2-3 per cent growth rate alongside a 2 per cent population growth rate thereby screwing any chance of a growth in per capita income. This created successive generations of people experiencing an ever greater erosion of what was good in Indianness ( e.g "main baal bacche waala hoon, mujhse jhoot mat bulwaon) and getting sensitised to the free for all that was to ensue in our current liberalized set up.

Some idiots are now trying to diss the present growth rate by talking about "inclusivity". Arrey baba, it is better to have 9 per cent non-inclusive growth than to have 3 per cent non-inclusive growth no? Your systemic failure has ensured that no matter what your growth rate, the chances are it will be non-inclusive, as was apparent in the Socialist phase.

So in a nutshell , this is what I am saying- Our people's transformation from thuggishness to being really professional may take one-third the time if we sustain a high rate of growth.

Maturity is the key.

[Sridhar K]

A post more suited for Sky scrapers forum but posting here nevertheless.

Did a one day trip to Trichy and back from Chennai, which was very difficult earlier. Thanks to GQ project, distance of 320 KMs covered in 4.5hrs (onward) and 4 hrs 45 minutes (return) including a 20-30 minute break in between. Total toll cost -Rs 260

Some observations, a few of which are typical:
a) The stretches can be divided into four
1) Chennai- Mamandoor -Operated by NHAI?
2) Mamandoor- Thindivanam - Operated by NHAI?-GMR
3) Thindivanam- Ulundurpet - Built and operated GMR
4) Ulundurpet - Samayapuram - Tiruchi Tollway or something

Quality of roads - #1 > #2 > #3 and #4. #1 was build in the nineties #2 during NDA period, and the rest during TR Balu's time frame. #3 and #4 looks like a rush job. #3 was the costliest tool, 51 Rs one way and 75 Rs two way for a short stretch.

b) Wrong side driving on the road near towns: On #1, the wrong side drivers stick to your extreme left lane with indicators on whilst on the other, they stick to the fast lane. Encountered many such incidences- one time, we were on the right lane overtaking a truck, and found (no not a TVS 50 but) a multi-axle truck trying to take a short cut. Alert driver (dad) averted a major mishap
c) Except for #3, lane discipline has improved a great deal.
d) Slow moving trucks overtaking other small moving vehicles on the right lane - wish the Government orders the minimum power required for these vehicles to be above 200 BHP. Most AL and TATA trucks are below 200 BHP- mostly around a ridiculous 140 BHP
e) A lot of road intersections are lit using solar powered lamps. Phone booths at frequent intervals are a good sign
f) Display boards urging people to stick to lane discipline and asking slow moving vehicles to stick to left lane- only in English (note most drivers are locals) reminded me of mass land.
g) New real estate layouts (this city that city etc have sprung up close to all toll plazas (guess will create land acquisition problems during road expansions.
(Some of the tool booths are called user fee plazas)
h) Police patrols seen at regular intervals just watching traffic and collecting mamools (bribes) from truckers only. No speed enforcement.
i) The truck bays are good in #1 and # but very small in #3 and #4.

[HarishV]

A private taxi driver was killed on the spot and six others travelling in the car were injured when two cars collided head-on at the Madurai-Melur four-lane national highway.

Anyone who frequents the Bangalore-Chennai stretch via Hosur can attest to this fact. The road via Electronic city up until Hosur is a death trap to say the least. I frequent this road many times at 6-am when I head to Chennai. Thing is, you have truck drivers coming in the opposite direction on the right hand side lane, and when you are doing 80k's and trying to overtake somebody and you find a pair of headlights staring you in the face, it is disconcerting to say the least.
We need to have
1. Insurance payouts which are conditional to the fact that you didn't obviously violate a rule - i.e. excess speeding, break a traffic signal, drive on the wrong side of the road.
2. People who were on the right side of rules but got involved in the accident should be exempt from any involuntary manslaughter charges in a court of law. You just cannot penalize people who happened to be in the same place with people such as this Ibrahim maniac.
3. Courts penalize such reckless drives above and beyond restitution to be paid to the victims.

I don't find Indian drivers insured in the first place because most of them probably don't even know what Insurance means, and hence they harangue poor car drivers who are involved in car accidents for money.

[SSridhar]

Sridhar K, that was good summary. Have a question. I understand that a stretch before Tiruchy, leading into the city, is not complete and it takes hours there due to congestion. Is that still the case or that work is completed now ?

[Sridhar K]

I guess it is not as bad as before. However, the old entrance to the city i.e. either via Samayapuram--->old bridge across Kollidam or via TV Kovil (after crossing Kollidam through the new bridge) are congested as usual due to the narrow roads. The other option is to take the bypass road and enter the city via the road to Gandhi market. For this, the bypass road up to the Cauvery bridge is in good shape. The last mile is still work in progress aka: grade separator construction, bad road, slow moving trucks, choked junction with water logging near the entrance. Since the bypass road is incomplete, they are not collecting tolls yet.

That begs the question: Why don't they maintain the temporary roads created near construction site even it is going to cost a bit? Bad roads at Construction site--> congestion---> more fuel and pollution --> more money. The same story whether it is Chennai-Tiruchi or Delhi -Haridwar or even within any Indian city. I sincerely hope the Government makes the maintenance of temp roads mandatory as a part of construction contract.

[lakshmikanth]

g) New real estate layouts (this city that city etc have sprung up close to all toll plazas (guess will create land acquisition problems during road expansions.

Since the govt. "owns" all the land in India, a (difficult to implement) solution to the above would be the following:
Pass a federal law saying that any land that comes near any highway by a certain measure (say the width of the highway) is subject to eviction at any time of the Govts. choosing. This will obviously cause a lot of Public litigations and cases, but if one case falls in favor of the government in the Supreme Court it will set a precedent for fast expansion of highways and will also drive down the prices of the real estate around the highway.

The difficult to implement part comes from the fact we dont have the political will or the vision to see something like the above passed in the house.

Wrong side driving on the road near towns: On #1, the wrong side drivers stick to your extreme left lane with indicators on whilst on the other, they stick to the fast lane. Encountered many such incidences- one time, we were on the right lane overtaking a truck, and found (no not a TVS 50 but) a multi-axle truck trying to take a short cut. Alert driver (dad) averted a major mishap

Sridhar: How are the exits designed on the highway. i.e. on any exit, can a driver get from a Chennai bound side of the road to Trichy bound side of the road without cutting across the highway. Are there underpasses of local roads on each exit? If there are underpasses under each exit, then what we need is driver education on how to drive on a highway (that part is not present in most driving schools). If there are no underpasses then the drivers are left with no choice but to drive on the opposite side of the road until they reach their exit, usually is the neighboring exit or something.

[Sridhar K]

Sridhar: How are the exits designed on the highway. i.e. on any exit, can a driver get from a Chennai bound side of the road to Trichy bound side of the road without cutting across the highway. Are there underpasses of local roads on each exit? If there are underpasses under each exit, then what we need is driver education on how to drive on a highway (that part is not present in most driving schools). If there are no underpasses then the drivers are left with no choice but to drive on the opposite side of the road until they reach their exit, usually is the neighboring exit or something.

For most exits except major ones, there are no underpasses and vehicles have to cut across the highway, which is ok. Vehicles do take the underpass or the service roads whenever it is available. The issue is for smaller roads intersecting the highway where there is no break in the median. Vehicles have to go the next intersection, take a u turn and come back. In some cases one needs to travel as far as 4 KMs up and down prompting people to take the short cut.

[Sachin]

Access controlled, tolled, divided expressways.

Are there any tolled, divided express ways in the Socialist Republic as of now? Yes, some of the roads (especially done with ADB funds etc.) are really well laid. There was a plan to have an access controlled express highway a couple of years back. It was scuttled when leftists, environmentalists, intellectual brigade etc. said that such an express way would literally divide the state into two (a kind of Berlin wall for some).

Slow moving trucks overtaking other small moving vehicles on the right lane

Oh.. we (me and my fellow travellers) call this the "fight of the equals". A truck going at 25kmph, trying to overtake another one going at 20kmph. The result, nobody will over take each other and a long convoy of smaller cars and other fast vehicles will build up. But atleast in some parts I have noticed that truck drivers generally reach a consensus and soon pull over to one side so that the faster traffic can get moving. The new set of "arrogant drivers" seems to be the chaps driving the private long distance buses (Volvos).

Police patrols seen at regular intervals just watching traffic and collecting mamools (bribes) from truckers only. No speed enforcement.

This seems to be unique to TN then. My observations;
1. Karnataka: No trace of a Highway Police at all. Looks like the state police does not have a highway patrol team.
2. TN: Highway patrols at regular intervals. But 99% of times, they would be parked on the side of the road with the policemen relaxing inside. I have not seen them running speed radars etc.
3. Socialist Republic of Kerala: Highway Patrols (43 of them) in every National Highway and State highway. They too seem to be parked at discrete corners etc., and I have seen them stopping vehicles. They charge/fine people, but there are numerous allegations that either the charges are frivelous or they are accepting bribes. Traffic violation fines seems to be one way of "revenue generation" for the state (like some small time police departments in US).

Insurance payouts which are conditional to the fact that you didn't obviously violate a rule - i.e. excess speeding, break a traffic signal, drive on the wrong side of the road.

Such a provision is there. A friend of mine was denied Insurance payment, because he met with an accident when he was going on the wrong direction on a one-way street. It was late in the night, and many people used to take the wrong direction on the one way. But for this the Insurance agency relies on the scene mahassar and report submitted by the police. Insurance agencies are becoming more stricter in their scrutiny because of lots of false claims.

[SSridhar]

Sridhar K, thanks.

[Dileep]

Sachin, there are no toll roads in SRK. Only toll bridges. It is only very recently that the govt agreed to the principle of toll, and signed up for the Trichur-Walayar stretch of NH-47 to be tolled.

IMHO, it is impossible to toll the rest of the NHs, because it is like one city road. The only way to toll is to build a greenfield expressway.

Yes, the Kerala Expressway project got shot down, with arguments like:

1. Water flow will be blocked. There will be waterlogging on the east side, and drought on the west.
2. This state is inhabited by poor people. They don't need expressway
3. Only rich people want to get from Kasargod to Tvm in 6hours
4. Bad for KSRTC, and will affect 40,000 employees.

All ridiculous onlee.

Now, Trichur-Kanyakumari stretch of NH-47 is in the list of Expressways, and also NHAI says all NHs will be toll ways. I dn't see this happening. There are too many towns too close by on the highway.

[Sachin]

Sachin, there are no toll roads in SRK. Only toll bridges. It is only very recently that the govt agreed to the principle of toll, and signed up for the Trichur-Walayar stretch of NH-47 to be tolled.

Considering Kerala's unique problems (land is a premium) there would be resistance to green field express way, which would also be tolled. I am waiting to see how NH47 between Thrissur and Walayar would be made a tolled express way. It would be worse than the Coimbatore byepass (tolled road) where there are exits/entry points every 1-2 kms .

There was a plan to get the entire railway route in the Socialist Republic to be electrified and lines doubled. Then run MEMU trains. This would be a good move as it would be cheaper. But dont know if our politicians have the clout to get that done by the railways, and whether "oh.. we are poor people, we don't require commuter trains" mentality can be changed.

[nachiket]

and whether "oh.. we are poor people, we don't require commuter trains" mentality can be changed.

Hain? I thought poor people would be most likely to use commuter trains while the rich would have their own cars.

[Sachin]

I thought poor people would be most likely to use commuter trains while the rich would have their own cars.

That was a comment regarding the socialistic mentality to use the "we are poor logic" to negate any new development activity. In Kerala any major development project is considered to be anti-poor. Or the commies will come up with theories to prove that they are anti-poor.

[nachiket]

That was a comment regarding the socialistic mentality to use the "we are poor logic" to negate any new development activity. In Kerala any major development project is considered to be anti-poor. Or the commies will come up with theories to prove that they are anti-poor.

I know the mentality. It was a pan-Indian phenomenon till the early nineties. But extending the "anti-poor" thing to commuter trains is taking it too far I would think. Even for the socialists. In fact I would have thought "Public Transport" would be one of the things that the socialists whole-heartedly support. I mean without cheap train and bus tickets how are the poor people they claim to represent supposed to move around?

[Sachin]

In fact I would have thought "Public Transport" would be one of the things that the socialists whole-heartedly support. I mean without cheap train and bus tickets how are the poor people they claim to represent supposed to move around?

Socialists in Kerala (or may be in India) are a special breed. Yes, technically commies/socialists should support a good public transport system. Well in that case the Kerala SRTC should be the ideal thing we should have. In Kerala, it is one of the worst managed transport corporations. Pathetic buses, no modernisation drives, over-staffed to the extreme (as ridiculous as 19 staff/bus) and rates which are way too high (when compared to other RTCs in South India). The commies in Kerala used this organisation as a place to give jobs for their henchmen. KSRTC staff was also known for their arrogance and customer unfriendly attitude (though this is changing). Today in some routes railway fares on express trains is lower than the corresponding fare in KSRTC. The socialists/commies have also not thought about lobbying to get a good commuter train system in place. And if it involves getting extra land to build new tracks (two tracke to four tracks), then forget it .

[Dileep]

I need to make a correction. According to the people from the capital, one stretch of NH Bypass there is tolled.

SRK commies shouldn't object to things done with railway infra. Even metro rail is fine with them. What they primarily object are toll/access controlled highways. Even the Expressway project would have got approval if it were 'just another highway', local aquisition based problems notwithstanding.

The single biggest reason the Expressway proposal failed was it got prematurely published. It was written in a YumBeeYeah style ambitious presentation format, which gave all kinds of wrong signals everywhere. IT was simply a 'packaging problem'. RBDCK made a big mistake in their enthu to publish it. Instead a politically seasoned neta should have consulted, lavish coats of sugar made, and then presented properly.

That doesn't condone the behaviour of people like Prof RVG Menon who made ridiculous arguments against te project.

[putnanja]

National highways to get new numbers

...
As per a report prepared by the ministry, highways from north to south will have even numbers and those running in the east-west direction will get odd numbers.

For example, the North-South Corridor starting from Srinagar and terminating in Kanyakumari will be named NH 44 and East-West Corridor starting from Silchar in Assam and terminating in Porbandar in Gujarat will be NH-27.

...

The numbering system will be in the ascending order –– for north-south highways beginning in the north and for east-west highways beginning in the east, the report said.
...

[shaardula]

National highways to get new numbers

...
The numbering system will be in the ascending order –– for north-south highways beginning in the north and for east-west highways beginning in the east, the report said.
...

That is confusing. i guess they mean n-s h/w starting east and e-w h/w starting north. that sounds like ascending.

[SBajwa]

This is exactly how US road system is. Though North to South in USA are odd and East to West are Even.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Sta ... d_Highways

http://www.us-highways.com/

[Sridhar K]

Did a small trip from Chennai-->Erode (by train)--> Chenni Malai--> Gobi-->Erode--> Mettur-->Dharmapuri --> Morappur-->Chennai (by Train) in TN.

Most of the roads used by us were State and District roads. They were in pretty good shape by Indian standards and hardly noticed any rash driving. Found the towns in this part of TN to be much cleaner than similar towns in other parts.

On the railways, with IRCTC taking over the catering on all railway stations, found improvements in the the VLRs and NVLRs on the cleanliness aspect. Some of the railway coaches had LED displays providing details of the approaching stations.

[Suraj]

Apart from the NEDP (national expressway development program) phase 1, a few other expressways were planned for initial execution. Here's a list:
Four expressways to be built across the country

The ministry plans to construct four expressways, including Delhi-Dasna-Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, besides Dhanbad-Kolkata, Bengalaru-Chennai and Vadodra-Mumbai, Minister of state for surface transport R P N Singh told reporters here.

The ministry has also planned five ring roads for Uttar Pradesh including in Kanpur, Aligarh, Meerut, Lucknow and Varanasi and their feasibility report would be ready by the year end.

Looks like they picked one major corridor from each of the four metros.

[SwamyG]

India to Seek Tenders for Nine $1 Billion-Plus Road Projects

India, Asia’s third-biggest economy, will seek bids for nine new road projects valued at more than $1 billion each over the next six months as transport bottlenecks threaten growth.

Tenders for the first projects will be sought in the next six weeks, Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath said in an interview in Hong Kong today. Companies from the U.S., Europe and East Asia will likely bid in partnerships with local builders, he said.

[Bade]

Some nice experience with quality roads in Gujarat. Though Rajkot was in a very arid zone, the streets were clean and smooth. Similar experience in Ahmedabad too. The A'bad-Gandhinagar highway was smooth. Lots of new residential developments can be seen on either side of the highway. Some of them were very upscale gated communities. Unlike Kochi, there are similar sized cities actually doing well as far are road quality goes. I was quite impressed. Would not mind living in either town if not for the hot summers. Feb-Mar was cool at least during the night, being desert like.

[SSridhar]

The following is a newly built flyover on NH45 at Tiruchy.



Look at the mini-coach and a three-wheeler going in the wrong direction !!

[Suraj]

How considerate of them to drive on the (relatively speaking) left side of the road even while being on the wrong side of the road.

[Sachin]

How considerate of them to drive on the (relatively speaking) left side of the road even while being on the wrong side of the road.

You should also consider that this also allows these people to get hit by the fastest moving vehicle coming from the opposite direction . People really know how to ask for instant death. In Bangalore-Mysore highway a bullock cart was operated in the same way. It was hit by some speeding vehicle like a bus. From people who saw this accident, the scene did not look very pleasant at all. Especially the state of the poor bullocks who took the bulk of the hit .

[SSridhar]

One more fly-over opens in Tiruchy but the driving practice is the same.

[Singha]

the long 10km electronic city flyover in BLR, which is otherwise quite well made has no breakdown lane for disabled vehicles to park or emergency services to
send vehicles like ambulances. in the middle wall there is only a few gaps for
emergency vehicles to take u-turn. on and off ramps are are both ends onlee.

the first disaster up there will be an eye-opener.

[Sachin]

the first disaster up there will be an eye-opener.

Are trucks/heavy vehicles permitted on this road? It would be fun if a truck (especially a garbage truck) or a bus breaks down on the elevated road. "Techies" going to Electronic City, can very much park their cars right there, use a rope to slither down to the Hosur Road and then take a BMTC bus. My initial thoughts were heavy vehicles are not allowed on this road, and so are slow moving vehicles (excavators, bull dozers and like).