Indian Road Development

Sai · Post by **Sai** » 21 Nov 2001 17:17

This diwali I happened to be travelling on the (Indian) east coast and saw some of the Golden Quadrilateral work in progress. Patches of the road have been completed, though not open to the public yet. They look cool. May not be autobahn or US freeway class, but at least they are four-laned, with a wide enough divider between pairs of lanes, the surface is smooth and the lanes and the shoulders are well marked. They look built to last. What is also impressive is the rapid pace at which work is progressing. By the way, could the above picture be Mumbai-Pune expressway?

Vick · Post by **Vick** » 21 Nov 2001 20:27

Looking at that pic again, it seems that the area where the grass and the dirt meet on the left hand side of the picture doesn't seem to "jive" quite right for me. But if this pic more or less captures the real image with just touch ups then it is certainly a pretty impressive stretch of road. The road at the left of the picture, is that a truck only zone? If that is so, then even more kudos to the NHAI team.I think the NHDP is the biggest thing that ABV will be remembered for. I don't know if people can recall but just when the Indian economy was not looking quite so nice a year or so ago, ABV made his speech at the Indian industry conference about making the N-S & E-W & GQ corridors and putting investments into infrastructure. Most of the reporters and industry people just blew it off as a feel good speech. But unlike many politicans, especially PMs, before within a few months concrete plans were being made to implement the NHDP scheme. I think many industrialists will agree that this NHDP is single handedly generating demand for heavy duty vehicles like tractor-trailors and other vehicles.I have a question, looking at the plans for the N-S, E-W, & GQ, I don't see a direct route for going from Calcutta to Mumbai without going through Delhi. I wonder if there is any plan to connect those two metros directly?

Vick · Post by **Vick** » 21 Nov 2001 20:35

NHAI in Rs 50-cr deal with Punj Lloyd, IL&FS <A HREF="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/art ... 2034636370" TARGET=_blank>http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/art ... 4636370</A>

Sridhar · Post by **Sridhar** » 21 Nov 2001 20:57

Sai: This is certainly not the Mumbi-Pune expressway. That is firstly a six lane highway, with a full lane for a shoulder. That is a true US-style freeway. Secondly, that is entirely a cement-concrete highway whereas the highway in this picture is a bitumen-macadam one. The difference is that the former type is light gray in color (see the pictures of the Mumbai-Pune e'way elsewhere in this thread) whereas the latter is black in color.Vick: There is a route from Calcutta to Mumbai, though it is not along the usual Kharagpur-Jabalpur-Nagpur-Mumbai railway route. If a vehicle wanted to exclusively use these highways for this journey, it would follow NH2 (Cal-Delhi GQ) to Eastern UP, switch to the EW highway upto Gujarat and then switch to the Delhi-Mumbai GQ. Incidentally, many trucks take that route even now, though they avoid the GT road stretch in Bihar (you can very easily think you are on the moon, there are so many craters

)JEM: I do believe this photograph is of the Gurgaon-Kotputli stretch (part of the Delhi-Jaipur highway, going eventually to Mumbai). I have posted two other pictures of this highway and you can make out that this photo is a different angle at the same spot. See <A HREF="http://www.nhai.org/np35.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.nhai.org/np35.htm</A> for instance. Compare the crash barrier in the centre of the road. csharma: the Bhubhaneshwar-Cuttack highway is part of the Kolkatta-Chennai GQ.The contribution of these highways to our national development is massive. Going beyond the infrastructural advantages, this project is the first really professionally managed project of the country. It is the first project of such magnitude that we have seen, that has taken care of every issue before it is begun, so that there are no time and cost overruns - Legal issues, financing, land acquisition. Hopefully, the success of this project will cause other projects to be implemented in a similar manner.

jkarthik · Post by **jkarthik** » 22 Nov 2001 10:58

Some great stretches of road in South India: Outer Ring road Bangalore: 6/ 4 lane stretch, 40 km long, with freeway type interchanges at major junctions. Connects NH4, NH7 and Mysore road.Bangalore-Hosur highway: 6/4 lane with service roads,part of GQ -Mumbai-chennai. (The stretch from Hosur to K'giri was being expanded a couple of months ago. maybe complete now)East Coast Road: Chennai - Pondicherry 2 lane, but clean stretch all the way, apparently.GST road: Chennai-Tindivanam: 4 lane stretch. Ford's plant is on this stretch.IT expressway (that's what the Chennaites call it!): Adyar - Sholinganallur. Supposed to be great, not been on it yet!In addition there are ring roads around Salem, Madurai, Coimbatore and other towns. The one in Salem is pretty good, 4 lane all the way. Some neat flyovers are also being built. (Of course, desis are yet to realise that a freeway is essentially a series of flyovers. We still point to Individual flyovers as separate projects). There's one on Mysore road @ Bangalore thats at least 2.5 km long, 4 lanes with multiple exits, and another 1 km stretch at "Richmond circle", Bangalore, that's 4 lane, 1 way! Pretty neat stretches, could comfortably hit 80 kph on a bike. Biggest project at Bangalore, however, would be the "Garden City Skyway", a suspension bridge that lifts the old road to Madras clean over a railway station and deposits it on the other side. It's a really massive project since it happens at the junction of the Ring Road, a whole bunch of interchanges are being built here! Will try to get some pics!

Peeyoosh · Post by **Peeyoosh** » 22 Nov 2001 15:36

Quality roadways coming up is having a second effect that is just great - citites are declogging as people move to suburbs - around Delhi places like NOIDA and a whole host of satellite suburbs have emerged in the last few years. Seeing such satellite cities come up around Bangalore and Pune too. In Ahmedabad the city has exploded in the last six seven years in terms of area, and the qulity of life at the periphery is far better than the city center.Still many mnay hassles though - crime, water and as always electricity!Peeyoosh

Sridhar · Post by **Sridhar** » 22 Nov 2001 20:56

jkarthik:Thanks for the info.The reason flyover projects (most of them anyway) in India are not part of freeway projects is that there is no corridor approach to building flyovers. The Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad flyover projects are fine but do not attempt to have flyovers at every intersection on a particular corridor.One exception is the Mumbai Flyovers, which, when complete, would ensure that three corridors do not have any signals at all - the Western and Eastern Express Highways and the Panvel-Sion Highway.Another exception is the project to build flyovers at every junction on Delhi's two Ring Roads. However, this is not an integrated project, with multiple agencies involved, and it is still only in the planning mode.Once the Mumbai flyovers are complete, it should be theoretically possible to convert the Western Express Highway and Eastern Experss Highway as true expressways. They already have access control (deep ditches separating the service lanes from the main highway) and the junctions with flyovers can be easily converted into interchanges with exit and entry ramps (lanes). The interchanges would not be ideal, but would do. What would also be needed is proper overhead signage, lane markings and proper crash barriers in the sides and the median.The same goes for Delhi's Ring Roads, both of which have access controlled service lanes.I don't see much scope for urban expressways in any other city, unless new ones are built. Cities like Chennai, due to the lack of foresight of its planners in the past, will find it particularly difficult to build anything but expensive elevated expressways due to the narrow roads and the absence of corridors, except Mount Road.

jkarthik · Post by **jkarthik** » 23 Nov 2001 11:38

Vick, there's stories going around in Bangalore regarding an additional ring road beyond the current ORR. Apparently, this one is to connect the Hosur highway with the proposed Mysore Expressway and will be a restricted access, expressway-format road. If there's truth in these stories, that makes things interesting, for the area where this thing is purported to be coming up is right now Bangalore's high growth region. Scope exists for satellite city/ suburb development. However, w.r.t. other cities, I agree, there isnt much scope for urban expressways. Talk of elevated busways along Mount Road in Chennai is likely to be, well, just talk, knowing the town planning capabilities of the rulers of that city. (In fact, dredging the canal/river network, converting the bridges into drawbridges and running high speed barges/ hydrofoils would probably be a better solution for that beleaguered city. Road congestion will reduce and the infamous "stench of Chennai" will finally be eliminated! Fond hopes, I guess.)Perhaps mass elevated rapid transit is a cleaner, greener solution for transpo issues in most Indian Cities. The circular growth pattern of most Indian cities, however, raise questions w.r.t. the efficiency of the MRT Systems. Any fundas, anyone? Also, why arent we exploiting our vast rivers for effective waterway transport?

Raja Ram · Post by **Raja Ram** » 23 Nov 2001 17:18

jkarthik:The Buckingham Canal through Chennai can be converted or should I say reverted to its old glory days of a waterway going right upto Rajahmundry.My father says that he has known the Canal as beautiful waterway and he has gone to Mahabalipuram by Boat. I know of this as one large sewer though! Thoughtless contribution of the glorious Dravidian parties by regularising and encoraging slums along the banks. There was some INTACH project to clean up the canal. Not much has been done though although Mayor Stalin made a noise of cleaning it. The MRTS system is built on this Canal and the fine stench reaches and accompanies the train journey. BTW the trains on the Chennai MRTS are not the airconditioned variety. But it is good, cheap but underutilised.Anyone from Chennai can update on the fate of this canal?

Sridhar · Post by **Sridhar** » 27 Nov 2001 03:01

A (somewhat hyped) writeup about the East Coast Road from Chennai to Pondicherry. This is a case of a public-private partnership for road development and could be a model for the rest of the country. <A HREF="http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2001 ... 26401y.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2001 ... 01y.htm</A> The link has now been corrected - since this was from yesterday's newspaper, the URL changed today.

Abhijeet · Post by **Abhijeet** » 27 Nov 2001 05:39

Sridhar, I get a file not found error when I try to access the link. Can you paste the article if you have it, or correct the url if it's misspelled? Thanks.

Sridhar · Post by **Sridhar** » 30 Nov 2001 03:00

More on the East Coast Road (without the hype). <A HREF="http://www.blonnet.com/businessline/log ... 13c05c.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.blonnet.com/businessline/log ... 05c.htm</A>

jkarthik · Post by **jkarthik** » 30 Nov 2001 15:51

Is the East Coast Road a divided h'way? As far as I remember, it is a 2 lane road.

Sridhar · Post by **Sridhar** » 01 Dec 2001 04:13

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by jkarthik: Is the East Coast Road a divided h'way? As far as I remember, it is a 2 lane road.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>You are correct, it is a 2-lane highway for much of the way. There is a small stretch just outside Chennai which is divided carriageway though, but it would not be part of the stretch that will be maintained by TNRDC.While a divided carriageway is definitely superior from the point of view of safety, a well-designed and well-maintained 2-lane highway can also have pretty high standards of safety. For instance, the ECR will have flexible dividers in the middle of the road (those who have lived in Delhi would have seen these in the bus-lanes that were demarcated on major routes a few years ago). These are rubber upright slats that a vehicle can cross comfortable but are irritating (make a noise and even slow down the car) if driven over continuously. Other safety features include a paved shoulder on both sides, W-beams at embankments (the low steel barriers that you see in US highways and also in the picture posted above by Vick), concrete crash barriers and guard posts at curves, near bridges etc. Further the road is being realigned so that curves have a minimum radius of 250m, so that turns can be made at high speed. These will also be banked for further safety. Other safety features are listed in the two articles linked above.Overall, as I have pointed out earlier in this thread, the number of lanes in a road must be decided solely on traffic projections, with some provisions for easy future expansion. This project meets that criterion, except that the Chennai-Mahabalipuram stretch perhaps already qualifies for 4 lanes. Also, traffic would actually increase if a four lane road is built since new housing projects would get a boost.On the whole, I think it was sensible to make the current two-lane road safe and comfortable, while keeping options open for a four lane road upto Mahabalipuram. A four-lane road project would take a lot of time for clearances since this road is a coastal road and there are several environmental objections to its expansion. Those who followed the original expansion of this road from 1 lane to 2 lanes in the late 80s and early 90s will know what I am talking about. And unlike many other projects, in this particular project, the environmental concerns are substantial, with the road having affected even the groundwater reservoirs (critical in that area), besides the usual uprooting of trees etc. Thus, if the four-laning had been part of the original project, the other parts of the project would also have been delayed.Not all highways in even the developed countries are divided carriageway (except perhaps the US and Canada). The UK, for instance, still has large tracts of 2-lane highways. So does Australia. Of course the main trunk routes in these countries are 4-lanes and more, which is what the NHDP is attempting to do.

Kamal_raj · Post by **Kamal_raj** » 01 Dec 2001 05:43

PM's cross-country highway project skids on local litigations <A HREF="http://www.tehelka.com/channels/current ... ighway.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.tehelka.com/channels/current ... way.htm</A>

Sridhar · Post by **Sridhar** » 01 Dec 2001 23:55

Sridhar · Post by **Sridhar** » 01 Dec 2001 23:58

Now West Bengal is also getting onto the Expressway bandwagon. Two projects for which an MoU has been signed with the Malaysian Govt yesterday are1. Kolkatta - Haldia expressway: This is a much needed project as anybody who has traversed on this route would attest. The road distance is almost twice the aerial distance for lack of a suitable bridge over the Hooghly. And even the current route through Raichak that involves a ferry crossing has bad roads in stretches and lacks bypasses for heavily congested towns (e.g. Amtala - Calcuttans would surely join me in cursing the traffic at this town). The route offers huge potential for tolling since it would generate a lot of truck traffic from the Haldia port and the industrial complex there to connect to the main National Highways (GQ) at Calcutta.2. Kolkatta- Kulpi expressway: I have never heard of this place called Kulpi. The MoU also includes development of a greenfield port there. I am not sure this is a viable project in the short term. The port has to be first set up and it has to generate enough traffic before an expressway will be of any use. And they are talking of four lanes here.Like many other such inter-Govt. MoUs, this one may also not amount to much - their Works minister (who is ethnic Indian) seems to spend more time signing MoUs in India than in his own country. But the Haldia expressway is certainly a project which might see the light of day soon, whether in cooperation with Malaysia or otherwise. <A HREF="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/arti ... =426976382" TARGET=_blank>http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/arti ... 6976382</A>

Anurag · Post by **Anurag** » 04 Dec 2001 03:09

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by jkarthik: Some great stretches of road in South Biggest project at Bangalore, however, would be the "Garden City Skyway", a suspension bridge that lifts the old road to Madras clean over a railway station and deposits it on the other side. It's a really massive project since it happens at the junction of the Ring Road, a whole bunch of interchanges are being built here! Will try to get some pics!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I was reading somewhere that the Bangalore skyway will be thrown open to public in the later part of November, this year, well i should say last month. Does anyone know if this has happened!

jkarthik · Post by **jkarthik** » 04 Dec 2001 11:09

Anurag, not to my knowledge. Will check out the status when I go that side. Sridhar, thanks for the heads-up on the East Coast Road. You're right , 2 well laid lanes are often good enough. My concern was about low moving lorries clogging up the traffic, however, I suppose this stretch is more often used by private vehicles and taxis , since there are no towns in between.

Vick · Post by **Vick** » 04 Dec 2001 19:38

Has anyone in India driven on cemented roads? Do they even exist yet in India?If someone has driven on them, do you prefer them over the asphalted roads?Also, one of my concerns with cement roads in India is that the quality will not be good going by all the cement adulteration that goes on in just the housing industry. And combine that with the specialized handling of cement for pouring and curing and there leaves a lot of room for the contractors to cut corners. This of course from experience from people in my family building homes. My uncles and grandfather had to literally watch the contractors like hawks to make sure that they didn't cut corners.

Nikhil Shah · Post by **Nikhil Shah** » 04 Dec 2001 20:05

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Vick: Has anyone in India driven on cemented roads? Do they even exist yet in India?If someone has driven on them, do you prefer them over the asphalted roads?Also, one of my concerns with cement roads in India is that the quality will not be good going by all the cement adulteration that goes on in just the housing industry. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Yes. There are cemented roads in Bombay. Are they fun to drive? A bit noisy I would say and they are tyre eaters. Not that it would be a reason for me to complain....we sell them :p The raod quality is pretty good and it seems to hold very well against the traffic and assualt of monsoon.

Sridhar · Post by **Sridhar** » 04 Dec 2001 20:47

Vick:Many of the new highways being built are at least partially cement concrete.All six lanes (but not the shoulders) of the Mumbai Pune expressway are built in Cement Concrete and unlike the Mumbai city roads, are pretty smooth. Some of the NHDP highways will have the new two lanes in cement concrete. The difference between the Mumbai roads and these highways is technology that allows the road to be laid continuously rather than in slabs (allowing for expansion joints at much greater intervals than on the Mumbai roads).

Vick · Post by **Vick** » 04 Dec 2001 21:09

The cement roads even in the US are made of slabs of 3 meters in lenght. It makes a quite a "nice" rhythmic noise while going 70 mph. That would be my biggest gripe with cement roads, the noise from the joints. How long are the slabs on Indian highways?

Anurag · Post by **Anurag** » 05 Dec 2001 21:46

Read the part where it says to be thrown open to public in the later part of novemeber! <A HREF="http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanheral ... anchor.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanheral ... </A> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> "We hope to complete all these preliminary works before the Garden City Skyway Bridge is thrown open to vehicular traffic in the latter part of November...." <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

VickersB · Post by **VickersB** » 05 Dec 2001 23:00

Survey for expanding Highway No 22 <A HREF="http://www.tribuneindia.com/20011205/himachal.htm#1" TARGET=_blank>http://www.tribuneindia.com/20011205/himachal.htm#1</A>

Kamal_raj · Post by **Kamal_raj** » 06 Dec 2001 03:19

Miles and miles to go, but so many stops on the way <A HREF="http://www.indian-express.com/ie20011205/ed3.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.indian-express.com/ie20011205/ed3.html</A>

krsai · Post by **krsai** » 06 Dec 2001 05:09

please note the grass that has smudged appeareances at the joinings all along

Abhaey · Post by **Abhaey** » 06 Dec 2001 09:10

What an excellent thread, and what a great forum. Nowhere else on the net have I seen such a cohesive group of learned and cultured people- anywhere!If I may, I'd like to ask some questions, and would be grateful if you could help me with some answers to them. Firstly, how exactly are the roads and motorways classified in India, and what exactly is the difference between a highway and an expressway ? For example in the UK, we have multiple lane motorways (a minimum of four lanes), dual carriageways, single carriageways, A-roads and B-roads.Also, what are the speed limits in India for the different categories of road, and are there speed cameras in operation within cities and/or motorways ? Are the police very strict with speeding motorists ?

Abhaey · Post by **Abhaey** » 06 Dec 2001 09:20

There have been a few references to both domestic and foreign companies being awarded road-building contracts. Does anyone actually have any figures on how much or what proportion of the work is being done by Indian companies, and how much this is directly (in transactions/ total revenues) contributing to the Indian economy ?Thanks.

Sridhar · Post by **Sridhar** » 06 Dec 2001 09:53

Abhaey:Welcome. Flattery is usually the best way to get people to cooperate, isn't it?

Roads in India are classified as : 1. National Highways (NH) - these usually cross state-boundaries and are the major corridors. Built and maintained jointly by the federal and state govts. though some critical corridors are exclusively under the control of the National Highway Authority of India. The NHAI corridors carry about 40% of the (long distance) road traffic in the country. Mostly 2-lane as of now though the NHAI roads will be 4 lanes or more soon. Some of these roads are also maintained by the Border Roads Organization (a semi-military body), specially in the mountains and some in Rajasthan.2. State Highways (SH) - These are usually confined within a particular state, though there are exceptions (specially when a highway between two cities in the same state passes through another state). Mostly 2-lane or single lane though some states are converting important roads into 4 lanes or even 6 lanes in some stretches.3. District Roads - These are roads within a district, usually paved (at least on paper) and connect district headquarters to different parts of the district, or sometimes from one Block HQ to another. (a block is a unit below the district). Mostly single lane.4. City Roads - Intra-city/town - maintained by the local bodies (municipal corporations/municipalities)5. Village roads - link villages to district roads. These are maintained by village local bodies (panchayats) or in the case of longer roads linking multiple villages, by the district administration. Single lane, % paved roads vary with state.6. Private roads - mostly held by public projects (like roads adjoining canals, maintained by the irrigation department of the state, adjacent to pipelines, access roads to mines, ports etc.). These are usually open to the public as well, though not always.7. Army roads - mainly in the border areas - maintained by the Border Roads organization.Expressways are strictly speaking not a classification in the Indian roads system. Any of the above can be expressways. For instance, the Mumbai Pune Expressway will officially be a part of the Mumbai-Chennai National Highway (though it is currently a State Highway). Mainly refers to access controlled, usually divided carriageway roads with uninterrupted traffic flows and are of the class of the UK motorways or US interstates. Currently, there is only one true expressway (Mumbai-Pune) though a couple more are being built. Of course, more than 13000Km of near-expressway quality divided highways (4 or more lanes) are being built as part of the National Highway Development Project. See other posts in this thread for details.Speed Limits - officially, there are speed limits, but there is no enforcement mechanism on National Highways. Most people are not even aware that they exist. The new expressways have/will have speed limits and are building mechanisms to enforce them. Most of the modern National Highway network under construction will eventually have this infrastructure. Radars for speed detection are only available (as far as I know) with the Delhi police and they have in the past used them to enforce speed limits within the city. Most other cities have such slow traffic anyway that they are not required. The Mumbai Pune expressway was supposed to have highway patrol police equipped with radars, but I am not aware if they are in place.I don't think any info on Indian/foreign share of contracts is readily available. It would interest me to know though, and if you find it, please let us know.For more information on national highways, you could check the National Highway Authority website at <A HREF="http://www.nhai.org" TARGET=_blank>www.nhai.org</A> and the rest of this thread.

jkarthik · Post by **jkarthik** » 06 Dec 2001 15:26

wrt speed guns, Bangalore cops have a few, they use it for surprise checks only. Nearly got nailed on RV road, was happily tooling along at 70 kph when they caught a bunch of speeding bikers on the opposite lanes. Most of the old roads have no speed limit signs. The new ring roads and highways have pretty good signs, though.

VickersB · Post by **VickersB** » 06 Dec 2001 20:50

SC makes fastening of seat belts mandatory <A HREF="http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/dec/06belt.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/dec/06belt.htm</A> Now this is good news. Hope it gets implemented though! I know for sure the cops in Chandigarh are strict about this. It's a fine of Rs.1500 if you're caught driving without the seatbelt on. The last time I was there, my uncle's driver made sure I had the seat belt on before he drove the car.

Abhaey · Post by **Abhaey** » 07 Dec 2001 00:41

Thank you Sridhar, Jkarthik.It's good to know that India’s road infrastructure development is being taken so seriously. I have read much about ‘ambitious’ plans and objectives that ABV and the authorities are setting, and I think that the tougher these objectives are, the better they are for India. I hope this mindset transfers itself to other areas of business and administration in our country, and instils a culture of excellence in our people and systems.

shim george · Post by **shim george** » 07 Dec 2001 04:34

Nice to know we have some good road scoming up. In some areas I have seen the raods re not laned. I mean smal roads lik 2 lane roads. They are just a black top for people toride on. Anybody know why they leave it like that?

jkarthik · Post by **jkarthik** » 09 Dec 2001 15:11

Sridharji, I was just thinking about the urban expressway concept,and I thought there is a possibility, even in cities like Chennai and Bangalore. For eg, Let us consider Chennai: First,the case for an elevated road: A huge no. of express buses andtrucks come into Chennai from GST road. Most of these are headed to Parry's corner, and use either Mount Road/ Beach Road thru Adyar. (Some may use the ring road, but the EVR road, into which they must turn to go to Parry's , is in very bad shape anyway.) Given the choice, these vehicles would gladly choose an "expresslane" that takes them uninterrupted to Parry's corner. If sufficient spurs lead into prime localities like T Nagar/ Nungambakkam/ Mylapore/ Triplicane, evcen traffic headed to these parts will use the express lanes. The issue: Neitehr Mount Road/ Beach road have sufficient width /clearance/traffic pattern to be converted into 4/ 6 lane expressways. Large no of 2 whelers/ autos and city buses use these roads, so thay cant be givenlimited access.The possibility: Instead of having 6 lanes and 2 way traffic on either of these, why not have 3 lanes heading into the city, elevated over Beach road,and 3 lanes heading out of the city, elevated over mount road. With modern construction techniques (like the one used in the Mysore Road flyover), it will be possible to support 3 lanes with a singlecentral pillar. The road-space occupied on Mount/ Beach roads will be minimal. Neither of these elevated roads will touch down anywhere,instead, ramps will touch down on side roads.The carying capacity of Mount/ Beach roadwill not be reduced in any way. In addition, we can have elevated2lane link roads along Sivananda Salai, Radhakrishnan Salai, Chamiers road and thru Velachery, these can have access ramps in Mylapore,Mandeiveli, T nagar, Royapettah, Triplicane etc. If we can sell he conceptthat it will be faster and cheaper to loop around the city to reach the destination, rather than burrow through its innards, this may actually be viable.I have an image file where I've drawn the route, can someone put fundas on how to add it here? Thanks!

Sridhar · Post by **Sridhar** » 09 Dec 2001 22:55

Karthik,The problem is not purely technical. In fact, there have been several feasibility reports about elevated bus lanes on Mount Road etc. Eventually, there would expressways in Chennai, whether elevated or otherwise. A better strategy would be to create space by acquiring land and demolishing buildings, that is the way urban expressways have been built around the world.The problem is that currently, it would be a hugely expensive exercise to build elevated expressway. A Km of 4 lane expressway at surface level costs about Rs. 6 crore per Km in urban areas. An elevated expressway would cost at least Rs. 60 crore per Km, not counting the length of ramps and modification of roads below. I doubt whether we can afford it as of now. Further, before such an expressway is constructed on Mount Road, it would require alternate routes to Mount Road to be construcuted. This is probably possible but extremely difficult in Chennai due to the volume of traffic carried on that road.Overall, is it possible? Yes. Is it going to happen anytime soon. Very unlikely, though I would be happy to be proved wrong.What should be done? There are things that can be done. The Mount Road is the most suitable road in Chennai to constuct flyovers on. There are several junctions on this road and its capacity could be significantly expanded if signals are eliminated on the way. Also, this road is amenable to constuction of 4/6 lane flyovers allowing two way traffic (unlike the mini-flyovers that have been constructed in the last 3 years). There are a couple of other such corridors - Poonnamallee High Road, corridors from the Central Station Area going north, south and west. These should be made signal-free and can be feasibly made signal free. This corridor approach is the approach Mumbai has taken and that is the approach Delhi is now taking (with the two ring roads).

Sridhar · Post by **Sridhar** » 10 Dec 2001 00:08

About how to show an image file, you could upload it on a free site like geocities or tripod and provide a link to that from here. Do put it up, it would be interesting to see what your thoughts are.I would prefer if you left out the 'ji' in my name

I don't know how old you are but I am sure I am not much older.(corrected later as the earlier sentence might have conveyed that I am old and don't want to be reminded of it).

member_3628 · Post by **member_3628** » 10 Dec 2001 00:20

<A HREF="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/art ... =847786200" TARGET=_blank>Swadeshi autobahn strapped for funds </A>... <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> IT’S YET another case where a mega project failing to live up to expectations. The Rs 1,630-crore Mumbai-Pune expressway — dubbed by many as the swadeshi autobahn — is proving to be financially non-viable. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> ...

Sridhar · Post by **Sridhar** » 10 Dec 2001 06:46

Somebody asked what %age of projects on the NHDP were awarded to domestic firms. Here's an answer.Indian firms bag 85 out of 135 highway projects <A HREF="http://www.business-standard.com/today/test1.asp?menu=4" TARGET=_blank>http://www.business-standard.com/today/ ... ?menu=4</A>

Abhaey · Post by **Abhaey** » 10 Dec 2001 07:49

Thanks. Here's another link that I've just found: From the NHAI Brochure.. <A HREF="http://www.nhai.org/np9.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.nhai.org/np9.htm</A>